Abstract: The chemical constituents of the volatile oil from the leaves of Nitraria tangutorum and N. sibirica were extracted by solid-phase microextraction technique, and identified by GC-MS combined with Kvotas retention index. Forty and thirty-three compounds were identified from the leaves of N. tangutorum and N. sibirica respectively, and twenty-seven were mutual. The content of hydrocarbons in N. tangutorum (25.54%) was higher than that of N. sibirica (12.00%). As the turning point, the content of hydrocarbons compounds which retention times were earlier than heneicosane in N. tangutorum was higher than that of N. sibirica. And acetic acid (20.00%) was only detected in N. sibirica. The main fragrance components in N. tangutorum and N. sibirica was 5,6,7,7a-tetrahydro-4,4,7a-trimethyl-2(4H)-benzofuranone.

Key words: Nitraria tangutorum; N. sibirica, volatile oil