Components of phytoncide from a pine forest in the southern temperate zone

This study was conducted to examine the components of phytoncide from a pine forest in the southern temperate zone. Recent studies have found that a large amount of phytoncide is released not only from cypress trees but also from pine trees. Because the amount released is the highest during summer, we selected a warm climate region in the southern temperate zone and measured the concentration in the month of August. To capture the phytoncide from the forest atmosphere, we used the adsorption tube method with a mini pump and successfully gathered 9 L of forest air at a flow rate of 150 mL/min. We performed duplicate sampling from two different tubes installed at the same location and derived the mean value. A gas chromatography/mass spectrometer detector with thermal desorption spectroscopy was utilized to perform quantitative and qualitative analyses of the captured material. The results showed that the average phytoncide particle of the pine forest in the southern temperate zone contained a number of components as follows in descending order: ${\alpha}$-Pinene (39%, $0.28ng/m^3$), followed by ${\beta}$-Pinene (16%, $0.11ng/m^3$), D-Limonene (8%, $0.06ng/m^3$), camphor (6%, $0.04ng/m^3$), camphene (6%, $0.04ng/m^3$), and p-Cymene (5%, $0.04ng/m^3$). There were also 13 additional phytoncide components in trace amounts. The results of this study are expected to provide a useful dataset for building a "Healing-forest".