Essential Oil of Lantana camara L. var. aculeata from Nigeria

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Nov/Dec 2004 by Kasali, Adeleke A, Ekundayo, Olusegun, Paul, Claudia, Koenig, Wilfried A, Et al

Abstract

Essential oils from the leaves and flowers of Lantana camera L. var. aculeata were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Thirty-nine and 46 constituents were identified in the leaf and flower oils, respectively. Sabinene (19.6-21.5%), 1,8-cineole (12.6-14.8%), β-caryophyllene (12.7-13.4%) and α-humulene (5.8-6.3%) were the major components of both oils. Two rare sesquiterpenoids-humulene epoxide III and 8-hydroxybicyelogermaerene-were also isolated from the oils.

Key Word Index

Lantana camera var. aculeata, Verbenaceae, essential oil composition, sabinene, 1,8-cineole, β-caryophyllene, 8-hydroxybicyelogermacrene.

Plant Name

Lantanti camara L. var. aculeata, Verbenaceae.

Source

Matured plant materials were collected on the campus of the Lagos State University, Lagos. Voucher specimens (FHI 106118) were deposited in the Forest Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) Herbarium, Ibadan, Nigeria. A. Odewo of FRIN identified the plant.

Plant Parts

Leaves and flowers were separately subjected to hydrodistillation for 4 h using a Clevenger-type apparatus (1). The oils were recovered in yields of 0.3% (w/w) and 0.2% (w/ w), respectively.

Previous Work

To the best of our knowledge there is no record of any previous work on the oil composition of this Nigerian grown plant; however, the chemical composition of L. camara oils from other geographical areas have been the subject of a number of studies (2-7). Lantana camara var. aculeata oil from Egypt was investigated earlier, and citral was found to be the main constituent (7). Lantana camara is used widely in West African ethnoinedicine in the treatment of rheumatism, asthma, cough and cold (8).

Present work: GC analyses of the oils were performed on an Orion Analytical Micromat 412 GC (FID). Cp-SiI 5 and Cp-SiI 19 capillary columns (25 m × 0.25 mm, film thickness 0.15 [Lm) were used. The oven temperature was programmed from 50°0 - 230°C at 3°C/min. For GC/MS analyses, a Hewlett-Packard 589OA GC interfaced with a VG Analytical double focusing MS Analytical 70-25Os double-focusing mass spectrometer operating at 70 eV with an ion source temperature of 230°C was utilized. The GC was fitted with a Cp-SiI 5 fused silica column (25 m × 0.25 mm, film thickness 0.4 µm). Helium was the carrier gas. The GC operating parameters were identical with those of the GC analysis. Constituents of the oils were identified by matching their MS data and retention indices (RI) data with those of reference compounds in a special data library and chemical literature (9-11).

Two unusual sesquiterpenoids were isolated from the oils by means of column chromatography and preparative gas chromatography on a Varian 2800 GC fitted with a stainless steel packed column (1.85 m × 4.3 mm), with 10% polydimethylsiloxane SE-30 on chromosorb W-HP. NMR measurements were taken on a Bruker WM 500 instrument with TMS as internal standard.

Thirty-nine and 46 components were identified in the leaf and flower oils, respectively (Table I). The identified compounds accounted for more than 88% of the total oils. The dominant constituents were sabinene (19.6-21.5%), 1,8-cineole (12.6-14.8%), β-caryophyllene (12.7-13.4%) and α-humulene (5.8-6.3%). Sesquiterpenoids were quantitatively significant in both oils (31% each). Two unusual sesquiterpenoids, which were identified as humulene epoxide III and 8-hydroxybicycIogermacrene, occurred in these oils. Citral, the major component of the Egyptian L. camara var. aculeata oil (7) was not identified in the Nigerian sample.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Bonn, Germany for fellowship (to AAK), University of Ihadan Senate Research Grants and Lagos State University for financial support.

References

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