Composition of the essential oils of three Acmadenia species from South Africa

Abstract

Hydrodistilled essential oils from the leaves of Acmadenia alternifolia Cham., A. obtusata (Thunb.) Batl. et H.L. Wendle and A. sheilae I. Williams were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Twenty-two compounds were characterized in the oil of A. alternifolia representing 94.6% of the total composition. Main compounds were monoterpene hydrocarbons: beta-pinene (30.6%), beta-phellandrene (17.8%), alpha-pinene (14.5%), limonene (6.9%) and sabinene (6.6%). Forty-seven compounds were characterized in the oil of A. obtusata representing 96.7% of the oil with monoterpene hydrocarbons alpha-pinene (27.4%), beta-phellandrene (23.2%), beta-pinene (15.1%) and limonene (7.5%) and a linear monoterpene alcohol linalool (7.6%) as main constituents. In the oil of A. sheilae, 26 compounds were characterized representing 94.6% of the total oil. Monoterpene hydrocarbons were also predominant in this oil with acyclic monoterpene myrcene (25.1%) together with sabinene (16.1%), beta-pinene (9.3%), alpha-pinene (9.3%) and linalool (9.0%) as main constituents.