Composition and Chemical Variability of Enantia polycarpa Engl . & Diels Leaf Essential Oil from Côte d'Ivoire

The composition of Enantia polycarpa Engl . & Diels leaf essential oil has been investigated for the first time using a combination of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. The compositions of 52 leaf essential oil samples have been subjected to statistical analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis ( HCA ) and principal component analysis ( PCA ). Four groups were differentiated, of which the compositions were dominated by β ‐elemene and germacrene B (Group III , 22/52 samples); germacrene D (Group I, 16/52 samples); β ‐cubebene (Group IV , 8/52 samples) and by germacrene B and germacrene D (Group II , 6/52 samples). A special attention was brought to the quantification of the thermolabile components, germacrene A, germacrene B and germacrene C, as well as that of their rearranged compounds, β ‐elemene, γ ‐elemene and δ ‐elemene. 13 C‐ NMR data of β ‐cubebene have been provided.