Chemical composition of Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck growing in southwestern Nigeria: essential oil chemotypes of both peel and leaf of lemon

The leaf and peel essential oils of Citrus limon, collected from the Agboku area of Ado-Odo Local government Area in Ogun state, Nigeria, were obtained by hydro distillation and analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The leaf oil was rich in limonene (31.5%), sabinene (15.9%), citronellal (11.6%), linalool (4.6%), neral (4.5%), and geranial (4.5%), while the peel essential oil was dominated by limonene (85.9%). A numerical cluster analysis of leaf and peel essential oils reported in the literature revealed three identifiable clusters of peel oil (a limonene chemotype and two mixed chemotypes, limonene/citral/β-pinene and limonene/linalool/linalyl acetate). The leaf essential oils fell into four clusters (limonene/citral/β-pinene, β-pinene/γ-terpenene, limonene/sabinene, and linalool/linalyl acetate). The leaf and peel essential oils from Agboku, Nigeria occupied the limonene/sabinene and the limonene chemotypes, respectively.