Chemical Composition and Larvicidal Activity of the Essential Oil from Leaves of Eugenia brejoensis Mazine (Myrtaceae)

The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of leaves of Eugenia brejoensiscollected in the Caatinga domain in northeastern Brazil was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The forty-one compounds identified in the leaf oil accounted for 89.3 % of detected components and comprised mainly sesquiterpenes (62.7 %) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (26.6 %). The principal constituents of the oil were -cadinene (22.6 %), -caryophyllene (14.4 %), -muurolol (9.34 %), -cadinol (8.49 %) and bicyclogermacrene (7.93 %). The larvicidal activity of the leaf oil against the yellow fever mosquito Aedesaegypti was assessed as moderate and an LC50 value of 214.7ppm was established in bioassays with fourth instar larvae. This paper constitutes the first report of the composition and larvicidal activity of the essential oil from leaves of E. brejoensis.