FEMA 3040

Chemical properties

Tagetes oil is produced by steam distillation of the flowering plants Tagetes minuta L. (Tagetes glandulifera Schrank., Asteraceae). The main producers are South Africa and India. The oil is a yellow to dark orange liquid with a strong, aromatic, fruity odor. Its main components are (Z)-ocimene, dihydrotagetone, C₁₀H₁₈O, (Z)- and (E)-tagetone, C₁₀H₁₆O and (Z)- and (E)-tagetenone, C₁₀H₁₄O. Tagetes oil is produced just on a scale of some tons annually. It is used in accentuated floral fragrances and in aroma compositions to achieve fruity effects.

Chemical properties

The oil, obtained by steam distillation in approximately 0.3 to 0.4% yields, with an unpleasant, rancid odor and a peppermint-like undertone. The Indian variety (T. patula L.) yields an oil similar to that of calendula with an herbaceous, faintly lavender-like odor; this essential oil is not commercially available. The flowers of T. patula L., co-distilled with sandalwood oil, yield the so-called attar genda, a product employed in perfumery in India.

Physical properties

The oil is a yellow-reddish liquid. The oil tends to solidify to a gelatinous mass on exposure to light and moisture.

Definition

Extractives and their physically modified derivatives. Tagetes, Compositae

Essential oil composition

Its main constituents are tegetone (an unstable, unsaturated ketone believed to be responsible for the rancid odor), d-limonene and p-cymene. Other constituents include cis-β-ocimene, dihydrotagetone.