Physico-chemical Properties of Cupresuss benthamii Oil from Aek Nauli,Parapat North Sumatra

This paper studies the characteristic of cupressus oil (Cupressus benthamii Endl) from Forestry Research Institute Arboretum at Aek Nauli. The essential oil colected from leaves of Cupressus benthamii plant by steam distilation of a fresh and dry leaves for seven hours. Result shows that the dry leaves provide the highest yield (0.41%) with its properties of specific gravity 0.889, refractive index 1.481, solubility on ethanol 1:5, and acid value 3.8 mg KOH/g sampel. The chemical compound of cupressus oil was dominated by ɑ -pinene (17.6%), sabinene (8.59%), 4-ter pineol (6.56%), and ϒ- terpentin (5.12%).