GC-MS Analysis of the Leaf Essential Oil of
Ipomea pes-caprae, a Traditional Herbal Medicine
in Mauritius
Daniel E.P. Mariea,b, Brkic Dejanb and Joëlle Quetin-Leclercqb,*
a
Mauritius Oceanography Institute, France Centre, Victoria Avenue, Quatre Bornes, Mauritius
bCHAM unit, UCL 7230 Av. E. Mounier, 72, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium
joelle.leclercq@uclouvain.be
Received: June 12th, 2007; Accepted: August 11th, 2007
The chemical compositions of the essential oils of the fresh and dried leaves of Ipomea pes-caprae from Mauritius were
studied for the first time by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and 70 compounds were identified. The major components
were found to be 8-cedren-13-ol (13.0%), (E)-nerolidol (7.0%), guaiol (6.2%), a-cadinol (6.2%) and limonene (6.1%) in fresh
leaves and ß-caryophyllene (36.6%), a-copaene (8.0%), germacrene D (7.3%), phytol (5.8%), d-cadinene (5.7%), and
a-humulene (5.4%) in the dried leaf samples. The relationship between the anti-hemorrhoidal activity of Ipomea pes-caprae,
one of its traditional uses in Mauritius, and the chemical composition of the essential oil samples is also discussed.