Piper glabratum is a plant native from South America, which has been little studied, despite its use in folk medicine. In this study, chemical composition, antioxidant and antifungal activities of essential oils (EOs) from leaves of P. glabratum were investigated. The influence of seasonality on its chemical composition was also evaluated. The chemical characterization was performed by two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC×GC/qMS). Altogether, 199 compounds were identified in the EOs and their composition varied during the seasonal cycle. The main compounds found were sesquiterpenes and their oxygenated analogues. EOs showed antioxidant activity, measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl-DPPH (from 28.1 to 33.4 µg mL-1) and β-carotene assays (from 57.4 to 66.4%), and inhibitory action against C. albicans. The oils provided expressive properties; however, the yield of EO from winter was not enough for activities assays, remarking the influence of the seasonality on the biological activities of this plant.

In this study, the preparation of the xerogel anilinepropylsilica is reported. The ability of the xerogel for extracting Al(III), Cr(III) and Fe(III) from ethanol was investigated at 25 ºC. The xerogel adsorption capacities were obtained from the adsorption isotherms by using the batch method. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) was used to estimate the concentration of metal ions in solution. The adsorption affinity follows the series Cr(III) > Fe(III) > Al(III) and the maximum adsorption capacities of the metal ions were 0.61, 0.52 and 0.43 mmol g-1, respectively.