Chemical profile of the volatile fraction of Bauhinia forficata leaves: an evaluation of commercial and in natura samples

Bauhinia forficata Link is widely used in Brazilian folk medicine to treat several pathologies. Commercial and botanically identified samples were evaluated via a gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionization detector and a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. This procedure allowed the identification of 116 compounds, representing 72% to 96% of the total content of the investigated essential oils. The five samples analyzed showed yields of essential oil ranged from 0.03 to 0.10%, being sesquiterpenes and oxygenated sesquiterpenes the major components. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis were used in order to demonstrate variations in the essential oils' composition of B. forficata and were able to clusterize these samples in three groups based on relationships and chemical patterns in essential oils. In natura samples showed to be different from commercial samples and CS3 group was the most distinct group of the commercial samples. In spite of differences among samples, it is concluded that essential oils of B. forficata presented a rich composition, presenting 11 compounds in common between them, which could be possible to establish a set of compounds as chemical markers for the species, still non-existent in literature.