Vol. 4, Issue 5, Part A (2017)

Author(s): Hélcio Silva Santos, Paulo N Bandeira, Telma LG Lemos and Gilvandete MP Santiago

Abstract: Croton nepetaefolius Baill is the aromatic plant native to northeast of Brazil popularly known as “marmeleiro sabiá”. It is used in folk medicine as a stomachic, a carminative and for the treatment of intestinal colic. A total of 26 compounds were obtained by hydrodistillation and identified by GC-MS and CG-FID in the three essential oils samples, being5 monoterpenes (36.9%), 7 sesquiterpenes (31.8%) and 1 Arylpropanoid (25.7%) in the essential oil of leaves, 6 monoterpenes (16.6%), 8 sesquiterpenes (14.1%) and 2 arylpropanoids (68.6%) in the essential oil of stalks and 7 monoterpenes (5.98%), 4 sesquiterpenes (4.52%) and 2 arylpropanoids (84.9%) in the essential oil of roots. The main constituents in the essential oil of leaves, stalks and rootsare the monoterpene 1, 8-cineole (26.16%) and the arylpropanoids elemicin (60%) and methyl eugenol (46.31%), respectively. Essential oil of the leaves have been demonstrated larvicidal activity (LC₅₀ 77.6 mg/mL), while the essential oils of the stalks (LC₅₀ 134.9 mg/mL) and roots (LC₅₀ 110 mg/mL) were considered not active. These results can be explained by the presence in the leaves essential oil from C. nepetaefolius of the monoterpenes sabinene, 1,8-cineole and terpinen-4-ol and sesquiterpenesβ-caryophyllene and germacrene D natural products which have been reported to be active against A. aegypti.