The major components of the essential oil of Piper divaricatum from Marajó Island, PA, Brazil, were methyleugenol (63.8%) and eugenol (23.6%), which were identified by GC and GC-MS. Essential oils of Piper species from the Brazilian Amazon are rich in either mono- and sesquiterpenes or phenylpropanoids, as seen in this study. The oil was able to scavenging the DPPH radical, displaying an inhibition varying from 19% to 74%, with an EC50 value of 16.2 ± 1.9 μg mL−1. In the bleaching of β-carotene, the inhibition of the oil oxidation was 60.0 ± 2.7%. The oil gave minimum inhibitory concentrations for the fungi Cladosporium cladosporioides and C. sphareospermum of 0.5 μg and 5.0 μg, respectively. The oil also showed significant brine shrimp larvicidal activity (LC50, 38.8 ± 0.8 μg mL−1).
JaramilloMS, ManosPS. (2001) Phylogeny and patterns of floral diversity in the genus Piper (Piperaceae). American Journal of Botany, 88, 706–716;
2.
YunckerTG. (1972) The Piperaceae of Brazil. I. Piper – Group I, II, III, IV. Hoehnea, 2, 19–366;
3.
TebbsMC. (1990) Revision of Piper (Piperaceae) in the new world - the taxonomy of Piper section Churumayu. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Botany, 20, 193–236;
AlmeidaJGL, SilveiraER, LimaMAA, PessoaDL. (2006) Composição química dos óleos essenciais de Piper divaricatum. 29aReunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Química, Águas de Lindóia, São Paulo;
7.
AndradeEHA, SilvaJKR, MaiaJGS. (2006) Estudo sazonal e circadiano do óleo essencial de Piper divaricatum G. Meyer. 29aReunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Química, Águas de Lindóia, São Paulo;
8.
AndradeEHA, GuimarãesEF, MaiaJGS. (2009) Variabilidade Química em óleos essenciais de espécies de Piper da Amazônia, Faculdade de Engenharia Química, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil.
9.
AdamsRP. (2007) Identification of essential oil components by gas chromatography / mass spectrometry, Allured Publishing Corporation, Carol Stream, USA;
10.
NIST/EPA/HIH. (2005) Mass Spectral Library (v. 2.0d), The NIST Mass Spectrometry Data Center, Gaithersburg, USA.
11.
MaiaJGS, SilvaMHL, LuzAIR, ZoghbiMGB, RamosLS. (1987) Espécies de Piper da Amazônia ricas em safrol. Química Nova, 10:200–204;
12.
MaiaJGS, GreenCL, MilchardMJ. (1993) New source of natural safrole. Perfumer & Flavorist, 18, 20–22;
13.
MaiaJGS, ZoghbiMGB, AndradeEHA, SantosAS, SilvaMHL, LuzAIR, BastosCN. (1998) Constituents of the essential oil of Piper aduncum L. growing wild in the Amazon region. Flavour and Fragrance Journal, 13, 269–272;
14.
AlmeidaRRP, SoutoRNP, BastosCN, SilvaMHL, MaiaJGS. (2009) Chemical variation in Piper aduncum and biological properties of its dillapiole-rich essential oil. Chemistry and Biodiversity, 6, 1427–1434;
15.
AndradeEHA, CarreiraLMM, SilvaMHL, SilvaJD, BastosCN, SousaPJC, GuimarãesEF, MaiaJGS. (2008) Variability in essential oil composition of Piper marginatum sensu lato. Chemistry and Biodiversity, 5, 197–208.
16.
MeyerBN, FerrigniNR, PutnamJE, JacobsenLB, NicholsDE, MaclaughlinJL. (1982) Brine shrimp: a convenient general bioassay for active plant constituents. Planta Medica, 45, 31–34;
17.
ParraAL, YhebraRS, SardiñasIG, BuenaLI. (2001) Comparative study of the assay of Artemia salina L. and the estimate of the medium lethal dose (LD50 value) in mice, to determine oral acute toxicity of plant extracts. Phytomedicine, 8, 395–400;
18.
FinneyDJ. (1971) Probits analysis, 3a ed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
19.
da SilvaNA, da SilvaJKR, AndradeEHA, CarreiraLMM, SousaPJC, JoséGuilherme S, MaiaJGS. (2009) Essential oil composition and antioxidant capacity of Lippia schomburgkiana. Natural Product Communications, 4, 1281–1286.
20.
SilvaJKR, SousaPJC, AndradeEHA, MaiaJGS. (2007) Antioxidant capacity and cytotoxicity of essential oil and methanol extract of Aniba canelilla (HBK) Mez. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 55, 9422–9426.
21.
KolevaII, LinssenJPH, Van BeekTA, EvstatievaLN, KortenskaV, HandjievaN. (2003) Antioxidant activity screening of extracts from Sideritis species (Labiatae) grown in Bulgaria. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 83, 809–819.
22.
RahalisonL, HamburgerM, MonodM, FrenkE, HostettmannK. (1994) Antifungal tests in phytochemical investigations comparison of bioautographic methods using phytopathogenic and human pathogenic fungi. Planta Medica, 60, 41–44;
23.
NavackieneHMD, MorandimAA, AlecioAC, RegasiniLO, BergamoDCB, TelacreaM, CavalheiroAJ, LopesMN, BozaniVS, FurlanM, MarquesMOM, YoungMCM, KatoMJ. (2006) Composition and antifungal activity of essential oils from Piper aduncum, P. arboreum and P. tuberculatum. Química Nova, 29, 467–470.
