Industrial Crops and Products 34 (2011) 831– 837 Contentslists availableat ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products j o u r n a l h o me p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / i n d c r o p Chemical characterization of the essentialoil from patchouli accessions harvestedover four seasons Arie Fitzgerald Blank ∗ , Tricia Cavalcanti Pergentino Sant’ana, Priscilla Santana Santos, Maria Fatima Arrigoni-Blank, Ana Paula do NascimentoPrata, Hugo CesarRamosJesus, Pericles Barreto Alves Universidade Federal deSergipe, Cidade Universitária Professor JoséAloísiodeCampos, AvenidaMarechalRondons/n,RosaElze, CEP49100-000, SãoCristóvão, Sergipe, Brazil a r t i c l e i n f o Articlehistory: Received6 November2010 Receivedin revisedform 26 January 2011 Accepted28 January 2011 Available online 8 March 2011 Keywords: Patchouli Genotypes Chemicalcomposition Patchoulol Pogostol a b s t r a c t The genus Pogostemon of the Lamiaceae family includes several speciesknown for their medicinal and aromatic properties.The speciesP. cablin is especiallynotable becausethe essential oil extractedfrom its leavesis internationallyimportant and valuable, principally for the perfume and cosmeticindustries. Because multiple factorscanaffectthe chemicalcompositionof the essential oil, the aim of this work was to evaluate the chemicalvariationsin the essential oils of nine Pogostemon accessions harvested over four seasons. Two Pogostemon accessions (P. heyneanus, but receivedasP. cablin) and sevenP. cablinaccessions from different sourceswere evaluated. The transplantswere planted in January 2008, and the harvests were conductedin May, August,and November2008andFebruary2009.Thechemicalcompositionof the essentialoils was evaluatedquantitativelyand qualitatively.Patchoulol was the major compound from the four harvestsof all of the P. cablinaccessions. The principal compound from the accessions POG-001 and POG-006 was ␤-pinene. Two clusters were detectedby multivariate analysesof the four harvests. Cluster I was formed by the accessions POG-001 and POG-006 (P. heyneanus), and Cluster II was formed by the accessions of P. cablin(POG-002,POG-014,POG-015,POG-016,POG-019,POG-021,and POG-022). © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The Lamiaceaefamily is composed of herbaceousor shrubby, rarely woody, perennial or annual species with an aromatic and even woody fragrance,including diverse species of value in culi- nary and medicinal applications, as well as in the manufacture of perfumes and cosmetics(Guenther,1972). The species Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth., a member of the Lamiaceaefamily, is notable for its various applications as a reducer of appetite,water retention, and inflammation; a cell reju- venator and antiseptic; an aphrodisiac; an aid in the treatment of acne,eczema, nervousness, depression, and insomnia; a fungicide; an insecticide; an aid in combating menstrual problems; an anti- rheumatic; a treatmentfor headaches; and a tranquilizer, sedative, and hypotensive (Zhu et al., 2003; Pavela, 2005; Oyen and Dung, 2006; Khare, 2007; Wei and Shibamoto,2007). According to several studies, the essential oil of patchouli (P. cablin) most frequently contains the following compounds: ␤- ∗ Correspondingauthor. Tel.: +5579 21056981;fax: +5579 21056494. E-mail addresses: afblank@ufs.br, arie.blank@gmail.com (A.F. Blank). elemene, varying from 0.24 to 1.3%, ␤-patchoulene (0.94–12.12%), ␤-caryophyllene (1.88–5.14%), ␣-patchoulene (2.3–20.9%), ␣- guaiene (3.17–22.2%), seychellene (4.73–8.94%), ␣-bulnesene (9.86–20.3%), and patchoulol (17.5–54.31%) (Singh et al., 2002; Zhu et al., 2003; Bure and Sellier, 2004; Milchard et al., 2004; Anonis, 2006; Hu et al., 2006; Lawrence, 2007; Tsai et al., 2007; Wei and Shibamoto,2007). As the main component of the essential oil of patchouli, patchoulol is important for the duration of the odor of the patchouli essential oil and is frequently used as an indicator of essential oil quality (Anonis, 2006). Speciesof the Lamiaceae family exhibit great chemical variabil- ity in their essential oils and can exist as chemotypes, plants of the same speciesthat are phenotypically identical but chemically distinct (Vieira and Costa,2006). Chemical analysis of the oil of P. cablin has revealed the existence of two chemotypes,the pogos- tone type and the patchoulol type (Hu et al., 2006). The existence of thesetwo chemotypes was also observedby Luo et al. (2003) and confirmed by molecular testing.The speciesPogostemon heyneanus Benth.is also called patchouli, but its essentialoil is of lower indus- trial interest, becauseof the lower patchoulol content (Oyen and Dung, 2006). 0926-6690/$– seefront matter ©2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2011.01.021