Variability in the Chemical Composition of Myrcia sylvatica (G. Mey) DC. Essential Oils Growing in the Brazilian Amazon

Myrcia sylvatica (G. Mey) DC. is known as insulin plant because local communities use the infusions of various organs empirically to treat diabetes. The leaves of seven specimens of Myrcia sylvatica (Msy-01 to Msy-07) were collected in the Brazilian Amazon. Furthermore, the essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and their chemical compositions were submitted to multivariate analysis (Principal Component Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis). The multivariate analysis displayed the formation of four chemical profiles (chemotypes), described for the first time as follows: chemotype I (specimen Msy-01) was characterized by germacrene B (24.5%), gamma-elemene (12.5%), and beta-caryophyllene (10.0%); chemotype II (specimens Msy-03, -06 and -07) by spathulenol (11.1-16.0%), germacrene B (7.8-20.7%), and gamma-elemene (2.9-7.6%); chemotype III (Msy-04 and -05) by spathulenol (9.8-10.1%), beta-caryophyllene (2.5-10.1%), and delta-cadinene (4.8-5.6%); and chemotype IV, (Msy-02) by spathulenol (13.4%), caryophyllene oxide (15.0%), and alpha-cadinol (8.9%). There is a chemical variability in the essential oils of Myrcia sylvatica occurring in the Amazon region.

Automated summary

This study discovered the chemical variability in the essential oils of Myrcia sylvatica in the Amazon region, identifying four different chemical profiles.