COMPOSITION OF SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE EXTRACTS OF PITANGA (EUGENIA UNIFLORA L.) LEAVES

摘要

The leaves of the Pitanga bush (Eugenia uniflora L.) are considered to be effective against many diseases. Extracts from Pitanga leaves have been found to show pronounced anti-inflammatory action and to have antimicrobial and antifungal activities, among other properties. In this work, extracts from Pitanga leaves were obtained by hydrodistillation and by extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO_2) at three conditions of temperature and pressure. In the SC-CO_2 extractions also were collected the components that are lost with the CO_2 in the exit of the system using Porapak-Q polymer trap. All extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thirty-nine compounds were found in the extracts and twenty-six were identified. The main components identified in the extracts in decreasing quantitative order were: curzerene, germacrene B, C_(15)H_(20)O_2 and β-elemene for hydrodistillation; C_(15)H_(20)O_2 and curzerene for SC-CO_2 extracts and 3-hexen-1-ol, curzerene, C_(15)H_(20)O_2, β-elemene and germacrene B for SC-CO_2 extracts captured in Porapak-Q.