A. Karioti and H. Skaltsa* and A.A. Gbolade

Abstract: The hydrodistilled essential oil from fresh leaves of Syzygium malaccense Merr. et Perry. grown in Nigeria has been studied by GC and GC/MS for the first time. Identification of the substances was made by comparison of mass spectra and retention indices with literature records. The oil was largely composed of monoterpenes (61.1%) characterized mainly by (+)-a-pinene (7.3%), (-)-b-pinene (8.0%), p-cymene (13.5%), and a-terpineol (7.5%). The sesquiterpenes constituted 30.8% of the oil with (-)-b-caryophyllene (9.0%) as the major component.

Malay apple, <i>Syzygium malaccense</i> Merr. et & Perry, (syn. <i>Eugenia malaccensis< L., Jambos malaccensis</i> DC.), is much admired for the beauty of the tree, its flowers and its colorful, glistening fruits, without parallel in the Myrtaceae family (1). The plant is presumed to be a native of Malaysia, but is now commonly cultivated from Java to the Philippines and Vietnam, also in Bengal and South India and in many other parts of the world. It is a rather fast-growing tree, reaching 12–18 m in height, and has an erect trunk to 4.5 m. The juicy fruit is oblong, obovoid, or bell-shaped with thin, smooth, waxy skin colored rose-red or crimson or sometimes white. The ripe fruit may be eaten raw or used for flavoring purposes, but its decoction is a reputed febrifuge (1). The plant is used in Polynesian traditional medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases, and has been found to elicit antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial activities (2). However, the composition of the leaf oil of this plant growing in Nigeria is unknown, but a related species, ,i>E. uniflora</i> was reported to yield mainly sesquiterpenes (3). As part of our investigations on plants with potential for medicinal and olfactive purposes, we studied the leaf oil of <i>S. malaccense</i> from Nigeria, where the plant is presently grown as an ornament and for its fruits.