Chemical composition of the essential oil from leaves of Lippia citriodora H.B.K. (Verbenaceae) at two developmental stages

The chemical composition of the essential oil extracted from fresh leaves of Lippia citriodora (Verbenaceae) was analyzed by GC-FID and GC–MS in May, when growth rates are maximal, and in September, in full bloom. In both samples the main constituents were geranial, neral and limonene constituting 66.3% of the total essential oil yield in May and increasing to 69% in September. Their individual percentage values, however, changed considerably for geranial and neral decreasing from 38.7 to 26.8% and from 24.5 to 21.8%, respectively, and for limonene increasing from 5.8 to 17.7%. All other components remained more or less unchanged both qualitatively and quantitatively. FT-IR spectrometry was also applied for the qualitative determination of the main components.