Chemical Composition of Emilia fosbergii and Melanthera latifolia Essential Oil from a Montane Forest Fragment in Northe
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CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF Emilia fosbergii AND Melanthera latifolia ESSENTIAL OIL FROM A MONTANE FOREST FRAGMENT IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL
C. A. G. da Camara,1* I. J. M. Dias,1 M. M. de Moraes,1 and M. R. C. S. Melo2
The montane forests of northeast Brazil are enclaves of the Atlantic Forest at an altitude of 500 to 1100 m surrounded by Caatinga vegetation [1] and have quite atypical climatic conditions for a semiarid region. There is a scarcity of ecological and chemical knowledge on the vegetation of these forests. Asteraceae is one of the largest families of angiosperms, with approximately 1600 genera and 25,000 species [2]. In Brazil, 2065 species distributed among 278 genera of Asteraceae are found in all biomes, including montane forest fragments in the state of Pernambuco, which is located in the northeastern region of the country [3]. The genera Emilia Cass. and Melanthera Rohr (Asteraceae) comprise 43 and 20 species, respectively, and are distributed mainly in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the southeastern United States [4, 5]. Species of these genera are known for the production and accumulation of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins [6, 7], and essential oils [8, 9]. Emilia fosbergii Nicolson and Melanthera latifolia (Gardner) Cabrera are cosmopolitan species belonging to theses genera that only occur in Brazil [10]. In the state of Pernambuco, E. fosbergii, which is known locally as serralhinha, and M. latifolia, which is known locally as mal-me-quer, are abundant plants in a montane forest fragment in the municipality of Camocim de Sao Felix and are used for ornamental purposes due to the beauty of their flowers, decorating houses and gardens [11, 12]. The literature reveals that the methanolic extract of aerial parts of M. latifolia is toxic in concentration of 40% against larva and adult of Rhipicephalus microplus in immersion tests [13]. Phytochemical analysis of the methanolic extracts of E. fosbergii leaves reveals a significant amount of the total phenolics contents in its composition, and these extracts show a high antioxidant capacity [14]. On the other hand, crude extracts of the aerial parts show low activity against tumor cell proliferation [15]. To the best of our knowledge, E. fosbergii and M. latifolia have not been investigated previously for the identification of the chemical constituents of the essential oils. This paper reports, for the first time, the chemical composition of the essential oils from the leaves of E. fosbergii and M. latifolia found growing wild in a montane forest fragment in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. The essential oils obtained through conventional hydrodistillation of fresh leaves from E. fosbergii and M. latifolia exhibited light green colors, with yields on a fresh weight basis of 0.02 ± 0.00% and 0.03 ± 0.00%, respectively. Eighteen compounds were identified in the essential oil from E. fosbergii (Table 1), accounting for 96.3% of the total oil. The E. fosbergii oil is predominantly composed of sesquiterpenes (95.4%) with a small amount of monoterpenes
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