Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Leaves Essential Oil From Schinus molle (Anacardiaceae)

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-alpha-cadinol (27.3 %), caryophyllene oxide (10.5 %), gamma-cadinene (9.1 %), spathulenol (8.6 %), 1,10-di-epi-cubenol (4.4 %) and 7-epi-alpha-eudesmol (2.3 %). The leaf essential oil showed pronounced in-vitro cytotoxic activity against K562 (0.89 mu g/mL) and NCI-ADR/RES (3.40 mu g/mL) human tumor cell lines. The antimicrobial, antioxidant and allelophathic activities of essential oil were also evaluated.