Tinkturenpresse

Eriocephalus tenuifolius DC. - Asteraceae - Cape chamomile, Kap-Kamille

The blue essential oil from Eriocephalus tenuifolius DC. is known in commerce as Cape chamomile oil and is used in aromatherapy and fragrance formulation.

Aliphatic esters are the most widely represented class of compounds. 2-Methylbutyl-2-methylpropanoate (2-methylbutyl isobutyrate , 19.9-23.0%), 2-methylpropyl-2-methylpropanoate (isobutyl isobutyrate, 5.3%-12.4%) and 2-methylbutyl 2-methylbutanoate (3.4-5.6%) are the dominant esters. Terpenoid compounds made up more than 35% of the essential oil with mainly linalyl acetate (2,6-5,7%) and α-pinene (0,8-2,3%). The dark blue colored chamazulene (found 0.1-4.5%) is an artifact of the steam distillation as with the flower oils of German chamomile.
[Mierendorff, Hanco-Gisbert. „Chemische Zusammensetzung des ätherischen Öls von Eriocephalus tenuifolius DC:(Cape Chamomile Oil); Ein Vergleich von Handelsölen mit Ölen aus Wildpflanzen und Stecklingskulturen.“ (2006)] http://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/volltexte/2006/3136/pdf/DissMierendorff.pdf

chamazulene

„The oil from E. punctulatus showed a different profile from the commercial sample which mostly contained 1,8-cineole, piperitone, yomogi alcohol and pogostol. MetAlign™ successfully discriminated between the oil obtained from the two species and this data together with multivariate analysis showed that the commercial oil was similar to E. tenuifolius oil.“
[Sandasi, Maxleene, Guy PP Kamatou, and Alvaro M. Viljoen. „Chemotaxonomic evidence suggests that Eriocephalus tenuifolius is the source of Cape chamomile oil and not Eriocephalus punctulatus.“ Biochemical systematics and ecology 39.4-6 (2011): 328-338]