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Abstract
Five leaf essential oils of Ravensara aromatica Sonn. from Madagascar have been analyzed by GC and GC/MS. They were found to contain mainly methyl chavicol (79.7%), methyl eugenol (8.5%) and limonene (3.1%). The existence of methyl chavicol as a main component of the leaf oil is discussed.
Key Word Index
Ravensara aromatica, Lauraceae, methyl chavicol, methyl eugenol.
Plant Name
Ravensara aromatica Sonn. is endemic to Madagascar (1,2). The genus Cryptocary a has been proposed instead of Ravensara since these two genera are very similar (3). Furthermore, Rasoanaivo and De La Gorce, discussing the botanical origin of Ravensara, noted that only R. aromatica was a true species, while R. anisata was a synonym (4).
Source
Plant material of Ravensara aromatica was collected near Marovoay-Gare MLA (center east of Madagascar, about 20 km from Moramanga, altitude: 900 m) from a natural population. Botanical identification was confirmed by comparison with an authentic sample at the Museum of Tsimbazaza (Parc Biologique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza) and the Direction de la Recherche Forestière et Piscicole, Centre National de Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural (DRFP/CENRADERU-FOFIFA). Herbarium specimens are deposited at the Museum of Tsimbazaza.
Plant Part
Leaves (three fresh and two dried samples of approximately 200 g each, representing an individual tree) from five trees of R. aromatica harvested during November and December 2003 were steam-distilled for 3 h to produce an average yield (w/w) of 0.95% (fresh leaves) and 3.0% (dried leaves), respectively.
Previous Work
Leaf and bark essential oils of R. aromatica and R. anisata have been investigated for their chemical composition (5-12), showing large differences in percentages for the main compounds, which is problematic for quality control as shown by a survey of the literature (13).
Present Work