The present paper represents the continuation of our research of free (essential oil) and glycosidically
bound volatile compounds from Croatian wild-growing aromatic plants. The essential
oil and glycosidically bound volatile compounds were isolated from the fresh and dried plant
material of Thymus pulegioides L. at three stages of plant development and analysed by gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The most abundant constituents in essential oils
were geraniol and linalool followed by thymol, g-terpinene, thymol methyl ether, borneol and
geranyl acetate, all of which showed quantitative variations during the plant development
stages and whether fresh or dried plants were used for essential oil isolation. After enzymatic
hydrolysis of glycosidic fractions, the GC-MS analysis of volatile aglycones revealed eugenol,
geraniol and 1-octen-3-ol as the main aglycones in all samples. Other important aglycones were
thymoquinone, 2-phenylethanol, 3-hexenol, 3-octanol, benzyl alcohol and linalool. Quantitative
variations were observed when the aglycones were analysed at three different stages of
plant development. Because of the high geraniol content in the essential oils and in the aglycone
fractions this Thymus pulegioides L. could be interesting as a fragrant material for perfume
industry or for food flavouring
