Composition of Myrtus communis L. Essential Oils as Affected by Climatic Conditions

• Main Authors: Paula Pereira, Maria João Cebola, M. Gabriela Bernardo-Gil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ALIES - Associação Lusófona para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação e do Ensino das Ciências da Saúde 2016-12-01
• Series: Journal Biomedical and Biopharmaceutical Research (BBR)
• Subjects: Myrtle; Myrtus communis L; Essential oils; composition; climate
• Online Access: http://www.alies.pt/BBR%20Editions/Vol-13-2-2016/art8.pdf

Myrtus Communis L. (Myrtaceae family), commonly known as myrtle, possesses a set of qualities that make it very interesting for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic industries. In this work, myrtle was studied over a period of three years (2006-2008), encompassing the main stages of the development cycle of the plant. The influence of climatic conditions, such as temperature and rainfall, on the chemical composition and yield of the essential oils obtained from leaves and berries was studied. The leaves and berries essential oils were obtained by Clevenger distillation and analysed by GC and GC-MS. The results show that the major components were limonene+1,8-cineole, myrtenyl acetate, α-pinene and linalool. Over the three year period of study, a decrease in the composition of the most volatile compounds (α-pinene and limonene+1,8-cineole) was observed, the reverse being found for linalool and myrtenyl acetate. The highest value for the yield of the leaves’ essential oils was observed in the third year (0.64%, w/w), whereas that same year the lowest yield (0.07%, w/w) of fruit was observed. These results were likely due to an atypically high record for rainfall in April and May of that year. The highest value of the berry essential oils (0.14%, w/w) was obtained in the second year.