ESSENTIAL OIL COMPOSITION OF C. BONARIENSIS 39 Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2005; 20: 39–41 FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL Flavour Fragr. J. 2005; 20: 39–41 Published online 27 October 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/ffj.1392 Essential oil composition from some plant parts of Conyza bonariensis (L.) Cronquist Luiz C. A. Barbosa, 1 * Vanderlúcia F. Paula, 2 Anelisa S. Azevedo, 3 Eldo A. M. Silva 3 and Evandro A. Nascimento 4 1 Laboratório de Análise e Síntese de Agroquímicos (LASA), Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 36571- 000 Viçosa, MG, Brazil 2 Departamento de Química e Exatas, Univ. Est. do Sudoeste da Bahia, 45200-000 Jequié, BA, Brazil 3 Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 36571-000 Viçosa, MG, Brazil 4 Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, 38401-136 Uberlândia, MG, Brazil Received 23 April 2003; Revised 28 October 2003; Accepted 16 November 2003 ABSTRACT: The essential oils from the roots, leaves, stems and inflorescences of Conyza bonariensis L. were invest- igated. A total of 17 constituents were identified by GC-MS, including monoterpenes, acetylenes, sesquiterpenes and diterpenes. The major constituents were matricaria methyl ester (roots, 74.4%), limonene (leaves, 29.6%), manool (stems, 25.3%) and carvone (inflorescences, 21.1%). Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY WORDS: Conyza bonariensis; Asteraceae; essential oil composition; acetylenes; limonene; carvone; matricaria methyl ester; manool * Correspondence to: L. C. A. Barbosa, Laboratório de Análise e Sntese de Agroquímicos (LASA), Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 36571-000 Viçosa, MG, Brazil. E-mail: lcab@ufv.br Contract/grant sponsor: Brazilian Research Council (CNP q ). Introduction Conyza bonariensis (L.) Cronquist (Asteraceae) is a plant currently known in Brazil as buva, voadeira, margaridinha-do-campo, rabo-de-foguete, arnicão, lagar- teira, capiçoba, acatóia amongst others. 1,2 An infusion from its aerial parts is used in popular medicine as anti- septic, hemostatic and antispamodic. 3–5 The essential oil of some Conyza species have been investigated; 6–9 however, we found only one report about the essential oil composition of Conyza bonariensis. 2 In the present work we report the first study of the essential oil composition of individual parts (root, stem, leaf and inflorescence) for this plant. Experimental Plant material and essential oil isolation Seeds of Conyza bonariensis were collected from speci- mens found at the Campus of Federal University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais State (Brazil), in November 1997. The seeds were cultivated in a greenhouse, in 40 pots of 10 l each, from February 1998 until the plants were in full bloom. At this stage, 40 plants were collected and separated into roots, stems, leaves and inflorescences. The leaves and inflorescences were dried for 3 days and the roots and stems for 5 days, at 28 ± 1 °C. For each extraction 15 g of material was used. The essential oil was steam distilled using a Clevenger-type apparatus for 90 min. The resulting mixture of oil and water was collected (90 ml) and the oil extracted with pentane (3 × 30 ml). The organic solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The obtained oil was weighed and the yield calculated. All of the steam distillations were carried out in four replicates. Analysis of the essential oils The oils were analyzed previously by gas chromato- graphy, using a Shimadzu GC 17-A equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID), and later, by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using a Shimadzu QP 5000 equipment. The chromatographic conditions were the same in both analyses: fused silica capillary column (30 m × 0.25 mm) with a DB-5 bonded phase (0.25 μm film thickness), injector temperature 220 °C; detector (or interface) temperature 240 °C; col- umn program, 60–240 °C at 3 °C min -1 , 240 °C for 15 min; carrier gas He (1 ml/min); the injection volume was 1.0 μl (1% solution in dichloromethane). The MS data were recorded at 70 eV, in the range 45–450 amu. Each component was identified by comparison of its mass spectra with those available from the equipment database (Wiley 140) and from the literature 10,11 and also by its retention index. Kovat’s retention index (KI) was determined using a calibration curve of n-alkanes. Infrared spectra were recorded as a thin film on a Perkin Elmer FTIR Paragon 1000 Spectrophotometer.