ABSTRACT
Rev. Latinoamer. Quím. 38, (1), 45-51, (2010)
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND CHOLINESTERASE INHIBITION OF ESSENTIAL OILS OF THREE
CHEMOTYPES FROM CROTON ZEHNTNERI
Hélcio S. Santos a*, Elaine F. Furtado a, Luciana M. Bertineb, Paulo N. Bandeira a, Maria R. J. Ribeiro Albuquerque a, Jane E. S. Alencar Menezes c, Maria Teresa S. Trevisan b, Telma L. G. Lemos b
a Centro de Ciências Exatas e Tecnologia, Universidade Estadual Vale do Acaraú, Sobral-CE, Brazil.
b Departamento de Química Orgânica e Inorgânica, Universidade Federal do Ceará, 60451-970 Fortaleza - CE, Brasil.
c Departamento de Química , Universidade Estadual do Ceará, Itapipoca-CE, Brazil.
Croton zehntneri Pax. & K. Hoffm. (Euphorbiaceae) is an aromatic plant native of the northeaster region of Brazil ; and is popularly known as “canela de cunhã”. The chemical composition of the essential oils from leaves, stalks and roots from three chemotypes of C. zehntneri obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzes by GC-MS. E -anethole, was the main component in the essential oils of all plants parts of chemotype 1. While the phenylpropanoids stragole, eugenol, Z -methyl isoeugenol and E -methyl isoeugenol were the major component in the essential oils of chemotypes 2 and 3, respectively. On TLC the essential oils and the major compounds showed an acetylcholine esterase inhibitory effect.
Key words: Croton zehntneri, Euphorbiaceae, essential oils, phenylpropanoids, chemotypes, cholinesterase inhibition .