The essential oils, obtained by hydrodistillation, from leaf samples of four Piper species (P. arboreum, P. crassinervium, P. dilatatum and P. tuberculatum), harvested at the State of Ceará, were analyzed by GC-MS. The oil yields ranged from 0.03 to 0.11% (w/w), on fresh weight basis. The oils were characterized by mono- and sesquiterpenes, except the oil of P. arboreum to which only sesquiterpenes were identified. beta-Elemene (0.58-3.03%), (E)-caryophyllene (2.71-37.78%), germacrene D (3.43-11.81%), bicyclogermacrene (2.83 and 25.07%) and delta-cadinene (0.52-2.44%) were detected in all oil samples. The major identified monoterpenes were alpha-pinene (11.27%), beta-pinene (20.01%), 1,8-cineole (10.81%) and linalool (28.61%) for P. crassinervium and, alpha-phellandrene (22.53%) and delta-3-carene (10.20%) for P. dilatatum. The major sesquiterpenes were bicyclogermacrene (25.03 and 25.07%) for P. arboreum and P. dilatatum, (E)-nerolidol (11.12%) for P. arboreum, germacrene D (11.81%) for P. tuberculatum and, (E)-caryophylene (10.26 and 37.78%) for P. dilatatum and P. tuberculatum. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report about the chemical composition of the leaf essential oils of P. crassinervium and P. tuberculatum.
Piper arboreum; Piper crassinervium; Piper dilatatum; Piper tuberculatum; essential oils
