Chemical investigations of male and female leaf extracts from <i>Schinus molle</i> L.

<p>The pepper-tree <i>Schinus molle</i> is an evergreen ornamental plant with various and diversified list of medical uses. In this article we analysed the chemical composition of male and female leaves of this plant during the off-flowering and flowering seasons. The leaf extracts were obtained by using a sequential extraction with solvents of different polarities and the chemical composition was investigated by GC-MS. The results showed a total of twenty-three components, <b>in which elemol is the most abundant constituent followed by bicyclogermacrene, γ-eudesmol, α-eudesmol, β-eudesmol and isocalamendiol</b>. The petroleum ether and diethyl ether extracts from male and female flowering and off-flowering leaves consisted of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons as a major constituent followed by monoterpene hydrocarbons, while the acetone extracts showed a different composition. The obtained results show differences in the chemical composition between male and female and flowering and not flowering.