Larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti of essential oils from northeast Brazil.

The larvicidal activities of essential oils from the leaves of Artemisia vulgaris L., Cymbopogon flexuosus (Nees ex Steud.) Wats. and Piper tuberculatum Jacq. were evaluated using third-instar larvae of Aedes aegypti. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The essential oil of P. tuberculqatum had the lowest LC50 value (106.3 +/- 2.2 microg/mL), followed by that of A. vulgaris (114.1 +/- 1.7 microg/mL) and C. flexuosus (121.6 +/- 0.8 micro/mL). The results show that these essential oils may be potent sources of natural larvicides.

Chemical constituents and larvicidal activity of Hymenaea courbaril fruit peel.

The chemical compositions of the essential oils from the peel of ripe and unripe fruits of Hymenaea courbaril L., obtained by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The main constituents of the essential oil from the peel of the ripe fruits were the sesquiterpenes alpha-copaene (11.1%), spathulenol (10.1%) and beta-selinene (8.2%), while germacrene-D (31.9%), beta-caryophyllene (27.1%) and bicyclogermacrene (6.5%) were the major compounds in the oil from unripe fruits. The essential oils were tested against Aedes aegypti larvae and showed LC50 values of 14.8 +/- 0.4 microg/mL and 28.4 +/- 0.3 microg/mL for the ripe and unripe fruit peel oils, respectively. From the peel of the ripe fruits, the diterpenes zanzibaric acid and isoozic acid were isolated, along with the sesquiterpene caryolane-1,9beta-diol. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of this sesquiterpene in the genus. The structures of all compounds isolated were identified on the basis of their spectral data (IR, MS, 1D- and 2D-NMR) and by comparison with literature spectral data.