Leaf and fruit essential oil compositions of Pimenta guatemalensis (Myrtaceae) from Costa Rica

Abstract

Pimenta is a genus of flowering plants in the Myrtaceae family, which has about 15 species, mostly found in the Caribbean region of the Americas. Commonly used for culinary and medicinal purposes, the best known commercial species are allspice, P. dioica (P. officinalis) and bay rum, P. racemosa, but there is little information concerning P. guatemalensis. The aim of the present study was to identify the chemical composition of the leaf and fruit essential oils of P. guatemalensis. The extraction of essential oils of P. guatemalensis growing wild in Costa Rica was carried out by the hydrodistillation method at atmospheric pressure, using a modified Clevenger type apparatus. The chemical composition of the oils was analyzed by capillary gas chromatographyflame ionization detector (GC/FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using the retention indices on DB-5 type capillary column. A total of 103 and 63 compounds were identified in the leaf and fruit oils, respectively, corresponding to 96.8% and 86.1% of the total amount of the oils. The leaf oil consisted mainly of eugenol (72.8%), and mono-and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (18.2%). Among terpenes the major components were b-caryophyllene (8.2%) and terpinolene (3.0%). The fruit oil also consisted mainly of eugenol (74.7%) and minor amounts of oxygenated mono-and sesquiterpenes (7.3%), mainly caryophyllene oxide (3.3%). This is the first report of the chemical composition of the essential oils obtained from this plant species. Rev. Biol. Trop. 63 (1): 303-311. Epub 2015 March 01.Key words: Pimenta guatemalensis, Myrtaceae, essential oil composition, eugenol, b-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, terpinolene, Costa Rica.Myrtaceae is a family constituted of about 142 genera and includes more than 5 500 species of mostly trees and shrubs with conspicuous oil glands, distributed predominantly in the Southern hemisphere, mainly in Australia and South America (Wilson, 2011).Worldwide, the family has a considerable economic value because species from several genera are used as a source of timber (for example, Eucalyptus globulus Labill., Tas (Barrie, 2007). In Costa Rica, it is commonly known as Jamaica (León, & Poveda, 2000). This plant is distributed along Central America, from Guatemala to Panama. The young branchlets are 4-angled. The leaves are evergreen, simple, opposite and oblanceolate to elliptical, the blade cuneate at the base and acuminate at the apex. When the leaves are crushed they give off a scent with an aromatic flavor resembling a mixture of clove and cinnamon due to an oil of unknown composition. The fragrant flowers are small and the receptacle has five calyx lobes, arranged in panicles (ca. 20 flowers) in the leaf axils. The ovaries are uni-locular or without loculi. This plant grows wild in Costa Rica and it can be found distributed between 250 and 900m above sea level mostly in the rain forests of the North region and Caribbean slopes. To the best of our knowledge, no previous reports on the chemistry of P. guatemalensis hav...

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