Essential Oil Content and Composition of Almescla Resin (Protium spruceanum (Benth.) Engl., Burseraceae

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been a significant increase in interest in natural therapies. In this way, plants with therapeutic properties constitute an important source of biologically active compounds. The species Protium spruceanum (Benth.) Engl., popularly known as Almescla is widely used in folk medicine, with a wide geographical distribution, often found in gallery forests and palm swamps (veredas), thus easily accessible. The objective of this work was to evaluate the oil yield of the leaves and stem, as well as the chemical composition of Almescla resin collected in a palm swamp in the north-central region of Minas Gerais. After drying, the botanical samples were triturated until a fine powder was obtained and the particle size of the leaf sample standardized through sieves. The test was carried out in triplicate, the oil being obtained from the hot extraction method in Soxhlet with solvent Hexane P.A. The resin was subjected to chromatographic analysis and infrared spectroscopy, by the preparation of KBr pellets (1% m/m). For the leaf sample, an average yield of 3.33% was obtained and for the stem, an average yield of 1.40%. The resin had the major chemical compound α-phellandrene (58.18-71.25%). It is concluded that, Almescla has a great oil yield, and the chemical analysis showed that the species has a great medicinal potential to be exploited.

Ontogenesis of Resin Ducts and Secretory Process in Protium spruceanum (Burseraceae) Stems

“…Protium spruceanum (Benth.) Engler (Burseraceae) is a tree that occurs in swampy and highly threatened ecosystems known as veredas in the Brazilian Cerrado, and it exudes a white and odorous resin of medicinal value used by traditional populations (Milliken et al, 1986; Oliveira-Filho & Ratter, 1995; Machado et al, 2003; Brasil et al, 2018; Amparo et al, 2019). Studies on the production of interesting compounds produced by this species could contribute to the generation of technologies for its sustainable use.…”

Avaliação fitoquímica e atividades biológicas do extrato do exocarpo do fruto de Protium spruceanum

“…Uma das espécies de com maior distribuição nos ambientes naturais, é a P. spruceanum encontrada com ambundância nas regiões Amazônica, Mata Atlântica e Cerrado brasieliro. Em si, um indivíduo de P. spruceanum pode alcançar até 20 m de altura; copa densa e arredondada, formando dossel; com tronto reto cilíndrico, com casca rugosa e delgada entre 25-40 cm de diâmetro; folhas compostas, pinadas, alternas; folíolos subcoriáceos entre 3-5, descoloridos, glabros na face superior e pubescentes na face inferior; inflorescências em panículas ramosas axilares com 2-3 cm de comprimento, frutos elipsóides entre 2-3 valvas avermelhadas (Brasil et al, 2018), sendo conhecida entre a população por "breu branco, breu ou almécega-de-casca-lisa" devido a coloração natural esbranquiçada do exsudato aromático produzido nas raízes, tronco, galhos e frutos, sendo utilizado no tratamento de dores estomacais, dores de cabeça e de dente, bem como em processos gripais (Machado et al, 2003;Zoghbi et al, 2005).…”