Fernanda A. Lupe, Ana C. Lemes, Fabio Augusto and Lauro E. S. Barata*

Abstract: The volatiles found in the headspace of Aeollanthus suaveolens were analyzed by solid phase microextraction coupled with GC/MS. This led to the identification of the 23 compounds. During steam distillation of the oil of A. Suaveolens, the very fragrant lactones, massoia lactone and δ- decalactone, were concentrated in the residue from which they can easily be extracted for perfumery purposes.

Catinga de mulata (Aeollanthus suaveolens Mart ex- Spreng) belongs to the Lamiaceae family and is a native annual herb from the Amazon region. It is used by the population in a fragrant bath made by infusion of the aromatic plants that possess religious or folkloric motivation, and in home-made perfumes. In ethnomedicine it is used to combat fever, weakness and migraine (1). The leaf is the most used part of the plant as tea or juice (1). The essential oils of the leaves and flowers obtained by hydrodistillation have been found to contain (-) linalool, farnesene and (-) massoia lactone as main components (1). The highest yields of linalool occurred in the leaf (31.5%), while for farnesene it was observed at a higher concentration in the flower (55.3%), leaf (21.9%) and in the stalk (42.2%) (1). With regard to massoia lactone, its major concentration occurred in the leaf (25.2%), while in the other parts of the herb, the content was not significant (1). The antimicrobial activity of the oil was reported, with massoia lactone being strongly active against the S. setubal microorganisms and Bacillus subtilis (2). The MIC (Minimum Inhibition Concentration) of the oil sample showed more activity against Escherichia coli and Cryptococcus neoformans (2). Phytochemicals studies have been pharmacologically monitored revealing that the oil is responsible for the blockade of induced convulsions for Metrazol (PTZ) in mice (3). Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) has become a very popular technique for the extraction and pre-concentration of organic analytes. SPME uses a fused silica fiber coated by thin films of pure polymeric or dispersions of solid adsorbents in polymers extracting phases such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and PDMS/divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB), respectively as both are able to ad sorb analytes from different matrixes. SPME is normally preferred over other techniques because it’s simple, relatively inexpensive and solventless technique (4). Headspace-SPME, HS-SPME, has been widely applied to aroma related analytical problems and its suitability and convenience for the isolation of volatile compounds of plants. In this work, we adopted HS-SPME coupled to GC/MS for the identification of volatile compounds from A. suaveolens to compare the volatile composition in the essential oil, fresh plant, dried plant and residue of steam distillation. The Natural Products Chemistry Laboratory studies extracts and essential oils, aiming the use of natural products for the industry of perfume and cosmetics.