Essential oil of three Uvaria species from Ivory Coast

Different parts of Uvaria ovata (Dunals) A, U. anonoides Baker f. and U. tortilis A. Chev were collected from Ivory Coast, in Toumodi (center), Agboville (south-east) and Sikensi (south), respectively. The essential oils, obtained by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus, were investigated by CG and CG/MS. The proportion of the chromatographed constituents identified varied from 92.5% to 98.5%. For U. ovata, the root bark oil comprised mainly camphene (10.2%), beta-pinene (10.1%), epi-alpha-cadinol (13.2%) and intermedeol (9.7%), while the oil of the stem bark was dominated by epi-alpha-cadinol (27.3%), intermedeol (11.9%) and benzyl benzoate (13.4%). The oil of the leaves showed beta-caryophyllene (15.6%), germacrene D (24.2%) and benzyl benzoate (18.3%) as the most abundant constituents. The leaf oil of U. anonoides was rich in 2,5-dimethoxy-p-cymene (15.5%), bicyclogermacrene (21.3%) and benzyl benzoate (8.7%), while, gamma-terpinene (31.7%), beta-caryophyllene (23.9%) and germacrene D (15.8%) constituted the main components of the stem bark oil of U. tortilis.