Essential Oil of Phyllanthus reticulatus Poiret from Nigeria

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves of Phyllanthus reticulatus Poiret (Euphorbiaceae) growing in Nigeria has been studied. The constituents of the oil were analyzed by means of gas chromatography (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Monoterpenes (64.9%) were the dominant class of compounds, followed by sesquiterpenes (23.0%). The major constituents were α-pinene (6.0%), sabinene (7.6%), β-pinene (18.1%), linalool (6.9%) and camphor (7.7%), among the monoterpenes, and β-caryophyllene (11.9%) and germacrene D (8.6%) among the sesquiterpenes. This is the first report on the volatile constituents of Phyllanthus reticulatu