Analysis of Sandalwood (Santalum album L.) oil: A brief report from West Bengal
1 Animesh Karmakar, 2 Debnath Palit and 3 Jagatpati Tah
1Department of Conservation Biology and Department of Botany, Durgapur Government College, Durgapur – 713214 India E-mail: animesh.taxonomy@gmail.com 2Principal, Durgapur Government College, Durgapur – 713214 India E-mail: drdpalit@gmail.com 3Department of Life Science and Biotechnology, Jadavpur University, 188 Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata – 700 032 India E-mail: jt_botbu2012@yahoo.in
ABSTRACT
Santalum album L. belongs to the family Santalaceae is a very important as well as valuable plant from both the ancient medicinal and commercial aspects. Quality timbers obtained from the white sandalwood have high value internationally. This plant is also proved as an important medicinal plant in different pharmaceutical industries and has also been used in several cosmetics industries. Santalm album L. is so important and valuable for its essential oils like alfa santalol, beta santalol etc. These essential oils are mainly present in the heartwood and the older large roots. Several other components like santyl acetate, santalene etc are also present. But the alfa and beta santalol are responsible for characteristics sweet odor. The aims and objects of this study were to analyse the santalol quantity as well as quantity of oil extracted from white sandalwood procured from different parts of the state of West Bengal.