abstract chemical profiles of volatile oils from four alpinia species, alpinia calcarata, a. gaanga, a. malaccensis and a. smithiae, were analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (gc-fid), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc-ms) and external standardization. thirty-seven to forty-eight components (96.8-100%) were identified in the rhizome oils of these four alpinia spp. major constituents in a. calcarata were 1,8-cineole (35.9%), -fenchyl acetate (12.9%), -pinene (9.1%), camphene (5.6%) and -terpineol (5.3%). a. malaccensis showed a very different chemical profile with -phellandrene (36.4%) as its major constituent, followed by -pinene (4.5%), p-cymene (14.9%), 13,14,15,16-tetranor-8(17)-labden-12-al (4.3%) and (e)-labda-8(17),12-diene-15,16-dial (5.0%). the highest content of diterpenes (10.2%) was found in a. malaccensis. major constituents in a. smithiae were -terpineol (15.1%), -fenchyl acetate (12.5%), -caryophyllene (9.8%), -cadinene (5.5%), (e)-nerolidol (10.1%), caryophyllene oxide (10.1%) and (e)-isoamyl cinnamate (7.2%). 1,8-cineole content in a. smithiae was only 2.1%. monoterpene hydrocarbons were absent in a. smithiae. a. galanga was found to be rich in 1,8-cineole (52.9%). potential molecules such as chavibetol acetate (5.6%), 2-(1e)-propenyl phenol (chavicol isomer, 4.7%) and phenol,4-(2-propenyl)-acetate (chavicol acetate, 1.1%) were detected in a. galanga rhizome oil, justifying its use as a food flavor additive. potent pungent principle dihydrogalangal acetate (2.2%) was first detected in a. galanga rhizome oil. keywords: alpinia spp.volatile oilchemical profilegc-fidgc-ms acknowledgements this work was supported by grant no. bt/pr6750/pbd/16/612/2005 from the department of biotechnology, government of india.