FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL

Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 169–171

DOI: 10.1002/ffj.972

Essential oil of two Lippia spp. (Verbenaceae) growing

wild in Guatemala
Felice Senatore* and Daniela Rigano
Dipartimento di Chimica delle Sostanze Naturali, Università di Napoli ‘Federico II’, Via D. Montesano, 49-80131 Napoli, Italy
Received 24 May 2000
Revised 26 October 2000
Accepted 2 November 2000

ABSTRACT: The essential oils from Lippia alba and L. graveolens, growing wild in Guatemala, were obtained
by hydrodistillation. The oil contents were 0.22% (L. alba) and 0.26% (L. graveolens) (v/w), on a dry weight
basis. The oil compositions were analysed by GC and GC–MS. Essential oil from L. alba was characterized by
a high amount of limonene (43.6%) and piperitone (30.6%). The essential oil of L. graveolens consisted mainly
of thymol (31.6%) and sesquiterpenes. Caryophyllene (4.6%) and caryophyllene oxide (4.8%) were the main
components of the sesquiterpenoidic fraction. Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS: Lippia alba; Lippia graveolens; Verbenaceae; essential oil; limonene; piperitone; thymol;
sesquiterpenes

Introduction this paper we report on the composition of the essen-

The family Verbenaceae comprises more than 98 gen-
era, mainly tropical and sub-tropical herbs, shrubs and
trees. Lippia is a large genus of this family and most
species grow in Africa, Central and South America.
Lippia spp. are used in the popular medicine of these
countries as remedies against many diseases.2,12 L. alba
(Miller) N. E. Brown is a bushy shrub, previously named
L. geminata H. B. et Kunth,13 commonly known by
the vernacular names ‘salvia morada’ or ‘salvia azul’.
The aerial parts of the plant are used in traditional
medicine as stomachics and nervines.3 L. graveolens
H. B. K. (Syn. Lantana origanoides Mart. & Gal. or
Lantana berlandieri Schauer in DC.) is a strongly aro-
matic herb native to Texas and Nicaragua but acclima-
tized in Colombia and Guatemala.2 The plant is used in
the traditional medicine of subtropical Central America14
and in Guatemalan folk medicine is known as ‘mejorana’
and ‘orégano de monte’.2 The content of essential oil
from L. alba 3,6,7 and L. graveolens 4 growing in South
America has been previously reported. Up to this time
there was no information about the essential oils from
Lippia spp. grown in Guatemala, even though the pres-
ence of terpenoids in L. alba had been referred to.14
Therefore, in furtherance of our research on the aro-
matic and medicinal plants of South America,5,15,16 in
*Correspondence to: F. Senatore, Dipartimento di Chimica delle
Sostanze Naturali, Università di Napoli ‘Federico II’, Via D. Mon-
tesano, 49-80131 Napoli, Italy. E-mail: fesenato@unina.it
Contract grant/sponsor: PRIN, Italy.
tial oil of L. alba (Mill.) N. E. Brown and L. graveolens
H. B. et Kunth, growing wild in Guatemala.
Experimental
Material and Isolation of Essential Oils
The aerial parts of L. alba and L. graveolens were
collected in Chimaltenango, Guatemala, in July 1999.
Voucher samples are deposited at the Herbario of the
Facultad de Agronomia, Universidad de San Carlos
de Guatemala. Plants were air-dried and the essential
oils were obtained by hydrodistillation according to the
European Pharmacopoeia.9 The oils were obtained in
0.22% and 0.26% yields, respectively, for oil from L.
alba and from L. graveolens.
Analysis of the Essential Oils
The oils were analysed by GC and CG–MS. GC anal-
yses were performed on a Perkin-Elmer Sigma-115 gas
chromatograph with a data-handling system and FID.
Separation was achieved by a DB-1 fused silica capillary
column (30 m ð 0.25 mm i.d., film thickness 0.25 µm);
carrier gas, He. Injector and detector temperatures were
250 ° C and 285 ° C, respectively; oven temperature pro-
gramme: 5 min isothermal at 40 ° C, subsequently at
2 ° C/min up to 260 ° C and finally held isothermally for
20 min.

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

170 F. SENATORE AND D. RIGANO

GC–MS analyses were performed using a Hewlett- Table 1. Chemical composition of the essential oils from
Packard 5890 A apparatus, equipped with a HP 1 fused- two Lippia alba and L. graveolens (Verbenaceae) grow-
ing wild in Guatemala
silica capillary column (30 m ð 0.25 mm i.d.; film thick-
ness 0.33 µm), linked on line with a HP Mass Selective RI
Detector MSD 5970 HP; ionization voltage 70, electron (HP-1, Identifi- L. alba L. graveo-
multiplier energy 2000 V. Gas chromatographic condi- 30 m) Compound cationa (%)b lens (%)b
tions were as given above; the transfer line was kept at 927 ˛-Thujene 1, 2, 3 t 0.2
295 ° C. Individual components were identified by com- 929 ˛-Pinene 1, 2, 3 1.0 0.2
941 Camphene 1, 2, 3 – 0.1
parison of their GC retention indices11 and MS spectra 969 Sabinene 1, 2, 3 0.3 –
with those reported in the literature1,8 and by computer 986 Myrcene 1, 2, 3 0.2 1.1
matching with the NBS 43K and Wiley-5 libraries and, 994 ˛-Phellandrene 1, 2, 3 – 0.3
1000 3 -Carene 1, 2 0.2 1.2
whenever possible, GC co-injection with standards avail- 1006 C10 H16 1, 2 – t
able in our laboratories. The essential oils constituents 1013 p-Cymene 1, 2, 3 0.7 5.5
identified are listed in Table 1 according to their Kováts 1018 1,8-Cineole 1, 2, 3 14.2 2.1
1021 Limonene 1, 2, 3 43.6 0.8
indices on the HP-1 column. 1032 (Z)-ˇ-Ocimene 1, 2, 3 0.1 t
1043 (E)-ˇ-Ocimene 1, 2, 3 t t
1050 -Terpinene 1, 2, 3 0.2 0.3
1064 C10 H16 0.6 –
Results and Discussion 1072 p-Cymenene 1, 2 – 0.2
1077 Terpinolene 1, 2 0.2 1.2
The composition of the essential oils from L. alba and 1086 Linalol 1, 2, 3 1.2 0.3
1142 Borneol 1, 2, 3 – 0.2
L. graveolens is given in Table 1. The results show that 1158 4-Terpineol 1, 2, 3 0.2 1.7
the essential oils of L. alba and L. graveolens have 1172 p-Cymen-8-ol 1, 2 – 0.7
different compositions. The L. alba oil consists almost 1190 ˛-Terpineol 1, 2 0.7 0.7
1214 Methyl thymol 1, 2 – 1.0
entirely of monoterpenes (94.8%), while monoterpenoid 1256 Piperitone 1, 2 30.6 –
components of L. graveolens represent about half of the 1284 Thymol 1, 2, 3 – 31.6
total oil, the other components being sesquiterpenoidic 1295 Carvacrol 1, 2, 3 – 0.8
1330 Eugenol 1, 2, 3 – 0.7
compounds. The composition of the essential oil of L. 1362 ˛-Ylangene 1, 2 – 0.3
alba from Guatemala agrees only with that reported for 1367 ˛-Copaene 1, 2, 3 – 0.8
samples collected in Tucumán (Argentina)3 but it is dif- 1372 Methyl eugenol 1, 2, 3 – 0.4
1384 ˇ-Elemene 1, 2 0.1 –
ferent from that reported for oils obtained from samples 1390 ˇ-Cubebene 1, 2 0.1 –
of L. alba collected in other countries; it is character- 1397 C15 H24 0.3 –
ized by high contents of limonene (43.6%), piperitone 1407 ˇ-Caryophyllene 1, 2, 3 1.0 4.6
1414 C9 H10 O3 1, 2 – 1.4
(30.6%) and 1,8-cineole (14.2%). In contrast, the main 1424 Aromadendrene 1, 2 0.2 3.2
components of the oils obtained from L. alba grow- 1440 ˛-Humulene 1, 2 0.6 3.0
ing in other countries were lippione (1,2-epoxipulegone) 1443 trans-˛-Bergamotene 1, 2 – 0.9
1445 allo-Aromadendrene 1, 2 – 0.5
and limonene3 or lippione, piperitenone, dihydrocarvone 1454 C15 H24 – 0.1
and limonene,10 for oils from Argentina, or camphor 1461 C15 H24 – 0.8
and 1,8-cineole for oil from Uruguay,7 or 1,8-cineole, 1462 -Muurolene 1, 2 0.3 0.2
1466 ˇ-Selinene 1, 2 – 1.2
limonene and carvone (Type A), limonene, carvone and 1471 Valencene 1, 2 – 0.2
germacrene D (Type B), and germacrene D, geranial 1479 ˛-Selinene 1, 2 0.1 1.1
and neral (Type C) for samples from Brazil.6 Of the 1484 ˛-Muurolene 1, 2 – 0.5
1494 -Cadinene 1, 2 0.2 1.3
other 33 minor constituents identified in our oil, only ˛- 1498 1,S-cis-Calamenene 1, 2 – 0.8
pinene, linalol, caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide 1505 υ-Cadinene 1, 2 0.4 1.1
are present in amounts equal to or greater than 1.0%. 1543 (Z)-Nerolidol 1, 2 0.3 0.2
1548 (E)-Nerolidol 1, 2 0.5 0.5
The different compositions of the L. alba essential oils 1557 Caryophyllene oxide 1, 2 1.1 4.8
might be attributed to the different ecosystems of these 1559 Globulol 1, 2 – 0.5
regions of South America, which may generate different 1564 C15 H24 O 0.3 –
1568 Viridiflorol 1, 2 t 0.6
chemotypes. 1576 Guaiol 1, 2 t 1.2
In the essential oil of L. graveolens, thymol (31.6%) 1584 epi-Globulol 1, 2 – 0.4
with methyl thymol (1.0%) constitutes about one-third of 1588 Epoxyhumulene II 1, 2 – 2.0
1589 Torreyol 1, 2 t 0.2
the essential oil, which also contains small amounts of 1594 C15 H26 O – 0.1
carvacrol (0.8%), eugenol (0.7%) and methyl eugenol 1600 Hexadecane 1, 2, 3 t t
(0.4%). Sesquiterpenes made up 42.2% of the total 1605 ˛-Eudesmol 1, 2 0.2 3.1
1615 T-Cadinol 1, 2 – 1.1
and half of these are oxygenated. Among 31 of the 1620 ˇ-Eudesmol 1, 2 – 2.1
37 sesquiterpenes identified, caryophyllene oxide (4.8%) 1622 ˛-Cadinol 1, 2 t 1.2
and ˇ-caryophyllene (4.6%) are the most abundant. 1629 C15 H26 O – 2.0

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 169–171
 ESSENTIAL OIL OF LIPPIA SPP. 171

Table 1. Continued chemotype. Further studies are necessary to clarify this

RI hypothesis.
(HP-1, Identifi- L. alba L. graveo-
30 m) Compound cationa (%)b lens (%)b Acknowledgements—This work was supported by a PRIN grant.
Many thanks are due to Professor A. Caceres, Departamento de
1643 ˇ-Bisabolol 1, 2 – 1.6 Citohistologia, Escuela de Quimica Biologica, Universidad de San
1944 Phytol 1, 2 t 0.9 Carlos de Guatemala, who provided the plants. GC–MS spectra were
1965 Palmitic acid 1, 2, 3 0.2 1.1 performed at the Centro di Ricerca Interdipartimentale di Analisi
2700 Heptacosane 1, 2, 3 – 0.1 Strumentale, Università di Napoli ‘Federico II’; the assistance of the
2900 Enneacosane 1, 2, 3 – 0.3 staff is gratefully appreciated.
3000 Triacontane 1, 2, 3 – t
3100 Hentriacontane 1, 2, 3 – 0.2
3300 Tritriacontane 1, 2 – 0.1
a 1, retention index identical to bibliography; 2, identification based on compar- References
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b Trace <0.05 %; –absent.
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Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 169–171