Chemical composition and larvicidal activity of the essential oils of Cordia leucomalloides and Cordia curassavica from the Northeast of Brazil

Abstract

The essential oils obtained from the leaves of Cordia leucomalloides and Cordia curassavica were obtained by hydrodistillation and their chemical compositions determined by a combination of GC-MS and GC-FID. Twenty-three components were tentatively identified in both oils representing 98.6 and 91.2% of the volatile content. The oil of C. leucomalloides was characterized by a large percentage of sesquiterpenes (90.6%), being δ-cadinene (17.4%), (E)-caryophyllene (15.7%), bicyclogermacrene (12.5%) and germacrene D (11.2%) the major ones. On the other hand, the oil of C. curassavica showed similar proportions of monoterpenes (47.3%) and sesquiterpenes (43.9%) among which α-pinene (20.5%), β-pinene (13.1%), (E)-caryophyllene (12.4%) and bicyclogermacrene (13.8%) were the predominant compounds. The larvicidal potential of the two oils were evaluated against the third-instar of Aedes aegypti larvae. The results showed that both oils exhibited significant activity, particularly the oil of C. leucomalloides which was able to kill 98.7% of the larvae in the concentration of 100 ppm. ©2006 Sociedade Brasileira de Química.