Volatile Constituents from the Leaves of Three Coespeletia Species from the Venezuelan Andes

Abstract

Coespeletia moritziana (Sch. Bip. ex Wedd.) Cuatr., Coespeletia spicata (Sch. Bip. ex Wedd.) Cuatr., and Coespeletia thyrsiformis (A.C. Smith) Cuatr. are woolly shrubs that grow in the Venezuelan Andes above 2800m. The essential oils from the leaves of these plants, obtained by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Monoterpene hydrocarbons constituted the main fraction in the oils of C. moritziana and C. spicata (80.1%-87.9%), but they made-up only 39.6% of the oil of C. thyrsiformis which showed a high content of sesquiterpenes (47.6%). The main components of the oils of the three species were α-pinene (20.4–47.0%) and β-pinene (9.8–20.9%). Germacrene D (14.5%) was the second most abundant compound in the oil of C. thyrsiformis.

Key Word Index:

• Coespeletia moritziana
• Coespeletia spicata
• Coespeletia thyrsiformis
• Asteraceae
• essential oil composition
• α-pinene
• α-thujene
• β-pinene
• mycrene
• β-phellandrene
• germacrene D