Chemical composition of the essential oils of Baccharis species from southern Brazil: a comparative study using multivariate statistical analysis

Abstract

Baccharis articulata Pers., Baccharis trimera (Less) DC., Baccharis milleflora DC., Baccharis oblongifolia Pers., Baccharis anomala DC., Baccharis calvescens DC., Baccharis uncinella DC., Baccharis axillaris DC., Baccharis mesoneura DC. and Baccharis myriocephala DC. essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation. Using gas chromatography/flame ionization detector (GC-FID), a total of 48 constituents were identified, representing for 70.3–96.7% of the chemical composition. The yield of essential oil from fresh leaf ranged from 0.02% (B. myriocephala) to 1.89% (B. uncinella). Limonene was the main constituent in all species, while α-thujene, α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, myrcene, p-cymene, limonene, (E)-β-ocimene, γ-terpinene, spathulenol and α- cadinol were identified in all samples. Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis revealed that chemical similarity was highest for B. calvescens, B. myriocephala, B. trimera, B. milleflora, B. anomala, B. oblongifolia, B. articulata and B. uncinella.

Keywords:

• Asteraceae
• aromatic flora
• essential oil composition
• chemical variability
• multivariate analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors thank CAPES, for fellowships granted to the senior author, CNPq and the Biointegral Institute, Curitiba, PR, for providing the area to collect the plants. We also gratefully acknowledge the “Environmental Institute of Parana” for providing the permits to collect and transport the plant material.