Rhodiola rosea L. (Crassulaceae), or "rose root" is a perennial herbaceous plant, distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Pharmacological studies have shown that R. rosea exhibits different biological activities - antioxidant, antidepressant, anticancer, etc. The aim of this study was to compare the chemical composition of essential oils from rhizomes of three commercial samples of R. rosea originated from Bulgaria (sample 1), China (sample 2) and India (sample 3). The oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Thus, the main volatile component in the Bulgaria and Chinese R. rosea was geraniol, followed by myrthenol in sample 1 or octanol in sample 2. Phenethylalcohol was a principal constituent in the Indian oil. Myrtenol and octanol were in significant amounts too. Aliphatic hydrocarbons were characteristic of the latter sample. It is notable that cinnamyl alcohol, which was present in large concentration in Bulgarian sample, was not detected in the other two samples. The obtained results showed considerable differences in the composition of the studied three origins of R. rosea.
Keywords: Essential oil; Rhodiola rosea; geraniol; myrtenol; phenethylalcohol.