Composition of the Essential Oil of Piper hispidum Sw. from Cuba

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Sep/Oct 2004 by Pino, Jorge A, Marbot, Rolando, Bello, Avilio, Urquiola, Armando

Abstract

The chemical composition of the leaf oil of Piper hispidum Sw. was studied by GC and GC/MS. Twenty-five compounds of the oil were identified of which [beta]-eudesmol (17.5%) and a compound tentatively identified as trans6-vinyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-3,6-dimethyl-5-isopropenylbenzofuran (12.9%) were the major components.

Key Word Index

Piper hispidum, Piperaceae, essential oil composition, [beta]-eudesmol, trans-6-vinyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-3,6-dimethyl-5-isopropenylbenzofuran.

Plant Name

Piper hispidum Sw. (Piperaceae). Common name: Bayuyo.

Source

Aerial parts of P. hispidum were collected in Pinar del R�o in western Cuba, during April 2000. The identification of the plant was carried out by one of the authors (A.U.) from the Higher Institute of Teaching in Pinar del R�o, where a voucher specimen was deposited in its Herbarium.

Plant Part

Leaves (0.5 kg) were harvested and air-dried for about one week. The oil (1.3%) was obtained by hydrodistillation for 4 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus.

Previous Work

Piper hispidum Sw. is a wild little tree common in Cuba (1). A review of the literature reveals that the volatile compounds of this plant from Brazilian Atlantic forest have been the subjects of a previous study (2).

Present Work

A Konik 2000 GC equipped with a 30 m � 0.25 mm (0.25 �m film thickness) DB-5 fused-silica capillary column (J & W Scientific) and a flame ionization detector (FID) was used. Injector and detector temperatures were both 250�C. Oven temperature was held at 70�C for 4 min and then raised to 280�C at 4�C/min and held for 20 min. Carrier gas (hydrogen) flow rate was 1 mL/min. Linear retention indices were calculated against a series of n-paraffins. Components were quantified as area percentage of total volatiles from electronic integration (EZChrom v 6.7 software), neglecting FID response factors.

GC/MS of the oil was performed on a Hewlett-Packard series 6890 gas Chromatograph equipped with an HP-5973 mass-selective detector. The Chromatographic conditions were the same as those described for GC (FID). Carrier gas (helium) flow rate was 1 mL/min. The detector operated in impact electron mode (70 eV) at 230�C. Detection was performed in the scan mode between 30 and 400 Daltons. Constituents were identified by comparison of their mass spectra with those in NBS, NIST or our IDENT database, and confirmed in many compounds by their relative retention indices. Mass spectra from the literature were also compared (3,4).

The volatile compounds identified in the leaf oil of P. hispidum from Cuba are listed in Table I. Twenty-five compounds were identified which constituted more than 80% of the oil composition. The most prominent compounds were [beta]-eudesmol (17.5%) and a compound tentatively identified as trans-6-vinyl-4,5,6,7tetrahydro-3,6-dimethyl-5-isopropenylbenzofuran (12.9%). Surprisingly, the composition found in this work was very different to the species found in Brazil (2).

References

1. J.T. Roig, Diccionario Bot�nico de Nombres Vulgares Cubanos. Editorial Cient�fico-T�cnica, La Habana (1988).

2. P.R. Dias dos Santos, D. de Lima Moreira, E-F. Guimaraes and M.A. Coelho Kaplan, Essential oil analysis of 10 Piperaceae species from the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Phytoohemistry, 58, 547-551 (2001).

3. F.W. McLafferty and D.B. Stauffer, The Wiley/NBS Registry of Mass Spectral Data. John Wiley & Sons, New York (1989).

4. R.P. Adams, Identification of Essential oil Components by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy. Allured Publishing Corp., Carol Stream, IL (1995).

Jorge A. Pino*

Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Alimenticia, Carretera del Guatao km 3 1/2, La Habana 19200, Cuba

Rolande Marbot

Centra National de Investigaciones Cientificas, La Habana, Cuba

Avilio Bello and Armando Urquiola

Instituto Superior Pedag�gico de Pinar del R�o, Pinar del R�o, Cuba

* Address for correspondence