Chemical and Biological Evaluation of Essential Oils with Economic Value from Lauraceae Species

This work compares the chemical composition of the essential oils from the leaves of Licaria canella collected in two different seasons. The results of this investigation were compared with the leaf essential oils of other species of the Lauraceae family, Aniba canelilla, collected at the same time. Both essential oils were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The results demonstrated a larger predominance of benzenoids, being the main constituent benzyl benzoate for L. canella and 1-nitro-2-phenylethane for A. canelilla. The comparison of the biological activities showed that L. canella (IC50 19 mu g mL(-1)) was more active against Leishmania amazonensis strains and less cytotoxic in macrophage cultures than A. canelilla (IC50 40 mu g mL(-1)). On the other hand, the L. canella oil displayed a higher cytotoxicity against Artemia salina with a lethal concentration (LC50), equal to 5.25 mu g mL(-1).