Comparative Chemical Analysis of the Essential Oil Constituents in the Bark, Heartwood and Fruits of Cryptocarya massoy (Oken) Kosterm. (Lauraceae) from Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Exhaustive hydro-distillation of the bark, heartwood and fruits of Cryptocarya massoy (Lauraceae) afforded pale yellow-coloured oils in 0.7, 1.2 and 1.0 % yields, respectively. Detailed chemical evaluation of these distillates using GC/MS revealed the major components in the bark and the heartwood oils to be the C-10 (5,6-dihydro-6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one) and C-12 (5,6-dihydro-6-heptyl-2H-pyran-2-one) massoia lactones, while the major fruit oil constituent was benzyl benzoate (68.3 %). The heartwood also contained trace amounts of the C-14 (5,6-dihydro-6-nonyl-2H-pyran-2-one) massoia lactone (1.4 %) and the saturated C-10 derivative d-decalactone (2.5 %).

Keywords

• Cryptocarya massoy
• Lauraceae
• massoia lactones
• 5
• 6-dihydro-6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one (C-10 massoia lactone)
• benzyl benzoate
• 5
• 6-dihydro-6-heptyl-2H-pyran-2-one (C-12 massoia lactones)
• essential oil analysis
• α
• β-unsaturated δ-lactone
• 5
• 6-dihydro-6-nonyl-2H-pyran-2-one (C-14 massoia lactones)
• δ-decalactone.