Compositional analysis of the leaf oils ofPiper callosumRuiz & Pav. from Peru andMichelia montanaBlume from India

The leaf oils of Piper callosum from Peruvian Amazon and Michelia montana from Assam, India, were prepared by hydrodistillation and analyzed by a combination of GC and GC/MS. Twenty five and thirty components have been identified, representing 96.3 and 100.0% of the respective oils. The major constituents were found to be asaricin (syn. sarisan) (35.9 and 81.8%, respectively) and safrole (20.2 and 13.0%). The oil of P. callosum contained in addition eugenyl methyl ether (9.7%) and (E)‒asarone (7.8%), compounds not detected in the M. montana oil. The identity of the principal compound, an isomer of myristicin, was unequivocally established by 13C‒NMR spectrometric techniques, especially long‒range 1H–13C correlation.