Chemical characterization of essential oils and wood extracts from two pine species of La Primavera forest

Abstract

In Mexico, pine trees constitute the group of conifers that sustain the forest industry due to both its timber and non-timber products; outstanding among the latter is the exploitation of resin. The chemical characterization of essential oils and wood extracts from Pinus devoniana and P. oocarpa of the La Primavera forest, in the state of Jalisco, was carried out by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The main components (alpha- and beta-pinenes, limonene and longifolene) were present in all the fractions, though in different proportions. The high content of pinenes in the wood extracts of the studied species stands out: approximately 80 %, equivalent to almost 1 % of the dry wood. Furthermore, each of the fractions has its own compounds. P. devoniana’s essential oil is characterized by its content of borneol acetate and methyl eugenol, and its extract can contain pinocamphene, alpha terpinene and isobornyl acrylate. Verbenol and some of its by-products, as well as (+)-cyclosativene are identified in P. oocarpa’s essential oil; its extract contains sabinene and anethole. The output of essential oil in relation to base dry wood was 0.25 % for P. devoniana and 0.32 % for P. oocarpa; the outputs of extracts were similar in both species, with an average of 1.24 %.