Chemical investigations of male and female leaf extracts from Schinus molle L.

Garzoli S, Laghezza Masci V, Turchetti G, Pesci L, Tiezzi A, Ovidi E (2018). Chemical investigations of male and female leaf extracts from Schinus molle L.. NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH, ISSN: 1478-6419, doi: 10.1080/14786419.2018.1480624

The pepper-tree Schinus molle is an evergreen ornamental plant with various and
diversified list of medical uses. In this article we analysed the chemical composition of
male and female leaves of this plant during the off-flowering and flowering seasons.
The leaf extracts were obtained by using a sequential extraction with solvents of
different polarities and the chemical composition was investigated by GC-MS. The
results showed a total of twenty-three components, in which elemol is the most
abundant constituent followed by bicyclogermacrene, γ-eudesmol, α-eudesmol, β-
eudesmol and isocalamendiol. The petroleum ether and diethyl ether extracts from
male and female flowering and off-flowering leaves consisted of sesquiterpene
hydrocarbons as a major constituent followed by monoterpene hydrocarbons, while the
acetone extracts showed a different composition. The obtained results show differences
in the chemical composition between male and female and flowering and not flowering.