Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Leaves Essential Oil From <i>Schinus molle</i> (Anacardiaceae)

Abstract

Abstract The essential oil of Schinus molle (Anacardiaceae) obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts, was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC), GC-mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The oil contains 69.1 % of sesquiterpenes and 20 % of monoterpenes. The most abundant essential oil components were 1,8-cineole (7.6 %), terpin-4-ol (6.1 %), epi-a-cadinol (27.3 %), caryophyllene oxide (10.5 %), y-cadinene (9.1 %), spathulenol (8.6 %), 1,10-di-epi-cubenol (4.4 %) and 7-epi-a-eudesmol (2.3 %). The leaf essential oil showed pronounced in-vitro cytotoxic activity against K562 (0.89 μg/mL) and NCI-ADR/RES (3.40 μg/mL) human tumor cell lines. The antimicrobial, antioxidant and allelophathic activities of essential oil were also evaluated.