Abstract The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from fresh leaves of Vitex agnus-castus and Ocimum campechianum, and from fresh inflorescences of Ocimum carnosum were analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The major components of V. agnus-castus essential oil were identified as 1,8-cineole (47.9%), terpinyl α-acetate (11.6%), sabinene (11.2%) and caryophyllene oxide (9.7%), while in the O. campechianum essential oil were eugenol (72.1%), β-elemene (6.8%), (E)-caryophyllene (6.4%) and bicyclogermacrene (5.2%). Linalool (79.0%), α-epi-cadinol (5.4%), terpinen-4-ol (3.2%) and 1,8-cineole (2.8%) were the major constituents in the O. carnosum essential oil. The essential oils were subsequently evaluated for their larvicidal and cytotoxic activities. Larval bioassay against Aedes aegypti of V. agnus-castus, O. campechianum and O. carnosum essential oils showed LC50 values of 97.55 ± 0.35, 81.45 ± 0.35 and 109.49 ± 0.35 μg/mL, respectively. The in vitro cytotoxic activities of the essential oils has been evaluated on breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), lung carcinoma (NCI-H292), pro-myelocytic leukemia (HL-60), and cervical adenocarcinoma (HEP-2) human cell lines, and pro-myelocytic leukemia cells lines (HL-60) were found to be the most sensitive to all the essential oils tested than the others. This is the first report on larvicidal and cytotoxic activities of these essential oils.

ABSTRACT Phytochemical investigation of Bauhinia acuruana Moric., Fabaceae, resulted in the isolation of sixteen constituents, including two new compounds 2'-hydroxy-2,3,5-trimethoxybibenzyl (1), (2R,3S)-2-(3,4'-dihydroxyphenyl)-5-methoxy-6-methylchroman-3,7-diol (2), together with fourteen known ones (3–16). The structures of the compounds were established by spectroscopic analysis including HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR data, followed by comparison with previously reported data from the literature. Compounds 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were evaluated for their cytotoxicity, which turned out to be marginal in a panel of six human cancer cell lines.

Croton zehntneri (Euphorbiaceae) é uma planta aromática nativa da região Nordeste do Brasil. O monoterpenóide Estragol (ESL) foi isolado por métodos cromatográficos clássicos a partir do óleo essencial (OE) das folhas de C. zehntneri e caracterizado por CG-DIC e CG-EM, tendo seu potencial antimicrobiano e citotóxico avaliado. A análise do OE permitiu a identificação de 100% dos constituintes integrados, cujo rendimento foi cerca de 1.8%. Os principais componentes identificados foram: eucaliptol, estragol (84.7%) e espatulenol. A dosagem de 50 μg/disco de ESL apresentou halos de inibição bastante expressivos frente a bactérias gram positiva e fungos. O ESL apresentou toxicidade frente a Artemia salina com CL50 e CL90 de 4,54 e 8,47 μg mL-1. Entretanto, nos testes de inibição tumoral (células humanas), não houve inibição satisfatória em nenhuma das linhagens de células humanas cancerígenas (MCF-7, HEP-2 e NCIH292).

Croton zehntneri (Euphorbiaceae) is a native aromatic plant from Northeast region of Brazil. The monoterpenoid estragole (ESL) has been isolated by classical chromatographic methods from the essential oil (EO) of C. zehnteneri leaves and characterized by GC-FID and GC-MS, its antimicrobial and cytotoxic potentials being assessed. The analysis of the EO enabled the identification of 100% of the integrated constituents, of which yield was about 1.8%. The main components identified were: eucalyptol, estragole (84.7%) and spathulenol. The dosage of 50 μg/disk of ESL presented fairly significant zones of inhibition against Gram-positive bacteria and fungi. The ESL presented toxicity against Artemia salina with LC50 and LC90 of 4,54 and 8,47 μg mL-1. However, in tumor inhibition assays (human cells), there were no rewarding inhibition in any of the human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, HEP-2 and NCI-H292).