Essential oils from some Myrceugenia species (Myrtaceae)

Essential oils from Myrceugenia euosma, M. foveolata, M. pilotantha, M. myrtoides and M. oxysepala , collected in Southern Brazil, were analysed by GC and GC–MS. Seventy compounds were identified, representing 86–99% of the oil content of the investigated species. The oils from M. foveolata, M. pilotantha and M. myrtoides were characterized by cyclic sesquiterpenes (67–90%), mainly those from the germacrene cyclization pathway. M. foveolata showed a predominance of globulol (21.3%) and epi ‐globulol (17.8%), while in the oils from M. pilotantha and M. myrtoides , spathulenol (18.7% and 23.8%, respectively) was the most representative. The oil from M. oxysepala and M. euosma were found to be quite distinct from the other species. The oil of M. eousma showed a predominance of nerolidol (46.7%) and epi ‐globulol (33.4%), and that of M. oxysepala was made up mainly by oxygenated compounds (80.4%), being 29% terpenes and 51.4% aliphatic compounds, such as aldehydes (nonadecanal, 20.6%; dodecanal, 6.8%); methyl‐ketones (2‐tridecanone, 5.0%) and alcohols ( n ‐undecanol, 4.5%). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.