Composition of the essential oils from leaves and fruits of three Hedyosmum species from Costa Rica

Essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from leaves and fruits of Hedy osmum mexicanum Cordemoy, leaves of H. bonplandianum Kunth and leaves of H. costaricensis C.E. Wood from Costa Rica were analyzed by GC-FID and CC-MS. GC-IR and C-13-NMR analysis were performed to improve the identification o f some compounds. Monoterpene hydrocarbons, especially sabinene, and oxygen -containing sesquiterpenes, mainly furanodiene, were the major constituents found in the oils of H. mexicanum. Monoterpene hydrocarbons were also the main group of components in the oil of H. bonplandianum, whereas the oil of H. costaricensis was mainly constituted by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, esp ecially germacrene-D. C-13-NMR analysis of the latter oil allowed us to ide ntify the compound 1 beta ,6 alpha -dihydroxy-4(14)-eudesmene. Copyright (C ) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.