The Essential Oil of Lippia alba: Analysis of Samples from French Overseas Departments and Review of Previous Works

Abstract

This paper contains new data on the chemical composition of the essential oil of Lippia alba (Mill.) N. E. Brown, as well as an overview of the available literature. Although the composition of the essential oil of this species is well-documented, discrepancies between the reported results suggest that many chemotypes and morphotypes exist. The analysis of essential oils obtained from the leaves of samples from three different locations in the French Overseas Departments (French Guiana, Martinique, and two different places in Guadeloupe) have shown that the composition of each one is quite different. This new data, along with a review and discussion of published studies, enabled us to establish seven distinct chemotypes. Possible connections between these chemotypes and morphotypes already described were also investigated.

Chemical composition and antiprotozoal activities of Colombian Lippia spp essential oils and their major components

“…A representation of the sample compositions, in the plane formed by the first two principal components, revealed the presence of four groups of essential oils (Figure): group I was formed exclusively by carvone and limonene-rich L. alba oils, group II consisted of citral and trans-β-caryophyllene-rich oils that corresponded to the L. alba, L. citriodora and L. dulcis species, group III contained carvacrol, thymol and pcymene-rich oils of the L. origanoides and L. micromera species and group IV comprised L. origanoides oils in which p-cymene was more abundant than carvacrol and thymol, but there were no detectable amounts of thymol methyl ether. Thus, the PCA analysis showed that L. alba and L. origanoides belonged to two different chemotypes, a fact that was already reported for such species (Hennebelle et al 2006, Stashenko et al 2008. Table I contains the results of the antiprotozoal and mammalian cell activities for the 19 essential oils examined.…”

Citral and carvone chemotypes from the essential oils of Colombian Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown: composition, cytotoxicity and antifungal activity

“…alba occurs in various regions of Colombia (Durán et al 2007) and although the antifungal activity of some essential oils of this plant have been evaluated in other countries (Duarte et al 2005, Hennebelle et al 2006, in Colombia the biological activities of the L. alba chemotypes have not yet been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition, cytotoxic effect and antifungal activity of essential oils of L. alba, as well as some of their components, from two regions of Colombia.…”

HS-SPME as an efficient tool for discriminating chemotypes of Lippia alba (Mill.) N. E. Brown

“…11,12 The species is also notable for essential oil production and the monoterpenes citral (neral and geranial), linalool, limonene, carvone, camphor, 1,8-cineole, tangetenona, g-terpineno and estragole are reported as major constituents. 1,13 Qualitative and quantitative variations in the chemical composition of the essential oil, besides genotype, geographical origin, soil and weather factors and techniques of extraction, are used to discriminate chemotypes of L. alba. [14][15][16] According to Hennebelle et al, 13 besides the existence of different morphotypes of L. alba, the plant also has seven chemotypes which are characterized by different major constituents in their essential oils.…”

“…1,13 Qualitative and quantitative variations in the chemical composition of the essential oil, besides genotype, geographical origin, soil and weather factors and techniques of extraction, are used to discriminate chemotypes of L. alba. [14][15][16] According to Hennebelle et al, 13 besides the existence of different morphotypes of L. alba, the plant also has seven chemotypes which are characterized by different major constituents in their essential oils. 13 Later on, Mesa-Arango et al 10 suggested the existence of at least twelve chemotypes of this species.…”

“…[14][15][16] According to Hennebelle et al, 13 besides the existence of different morphotypes of L. alba, the plant also has seven chemotypes which are characterized by different major constituents in their essential oils. 13 Later on, Mesa-Arango et al 10 suggested the existence of at least twelve chemotypes of this species. These authors reported the citral and carvone chemotypes for the plant collected in Colombia, besides the promising antifungal activity of its essential oil.…”