Componentes voláteis de espécies de burseraceae

Abstract

The pantropically distributed family Burseraceae consists of about 17 genera and about 700 species. The largest genus is Protium with approximately 147 species. Its species characteristically exude oil-egomo-resins that have medicinal and industrial properties. Despite the commercial and medicinal importance of its species, the Burseraceae family has been little studied from the chemical point of view. Aiming to contribute to the knowledge of the chemistry of its species, we present in this paper the chemical compositions of the essential oils obtained from the leaves and twigs (FG), the trunk bark (C), the fruits (Fr) and the resin (R) of Protium aracouchini (Aubl.) March. The oils were obtained by hydrodistillation for 3 h and the material dried at room temperature for 7 days. The chemical composition of the oils was obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, in a Finnigan INCOS-XL GC/MS system, equipped with a DB-5MS silica capillary column, using a temperature program of 60°C-240°C (3°C/min) and helium as carrier gas. The major components identified were: sabinene (FG=33.9%, C=33.8%, Fr=56, 1%), limonene (C=19.4%, Fr=22.1 %), camphor (R=14.5%), 4-terpineol (FG=10.3%), b-caryophyllene (FG=1O.8%) and epi-a-cadinol (R=20.4%). The seasonality study is allowing to follow the variation in sabinene (Fs=27.5% - 81.4%, Rs=23.3% - 61.3%) and limonene (Rs=8.2% - 22.7%) content, and the yield in essential oil obtained from the leaves and resin of P. aracouchini, besides other observations such as the absence of camphor in the oil obtained from the leaves, and of the cis-sabinene hydrate that presents higher contents only in the resin oil (Fs=0.1 % - 0.7%, Rs=0.1 % - 56.1 %).