This work describes the chemical composition of the essential oils and the isolation of eleven substances from Eupatorium ballotifolium Kunth, Asteraceae. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation, analyzed by GC/MS and evaluated towards the acetylcholinesterase enzyme. The oils yield was of 0.11% for the leaves and 0.03% for the stems. The main constituents of the oils were the sesquiterpenes β-caryophyllene (24.9 and 22.2%), spathulenol (17.7 and 12.4%) and epoxy-allo-aromadendrene (23.0 and 23.6%). From the hexane extract of the aerial part were isolated a mixture of sitosterol and stigmasterol, its glucosides, and the triterpenes taraxasteryl acetate and taraxasterol, while from the ethanol extract were obtained the flavonoids nepetin and 3-O-glucoside-quercetin. The triterpenes epi-friedelanol and dammara-20,24-dien-3β-ol were obtained from the hexane extract of roots, while the coumarin 11-hydroxy-11,12-di-hydroobliquine was obtained from the ethanol extract. The structures of all compounds were determinate based on spectroscopic methods such as IR, MS and ¹H and 13C NMR
Eupatorium ballotifolium; Asteraceae; essential oil; acetylcholinesterase activity
