Comparative chemical analysis of the essential oil constituents in the bark, heartwood and fruits of Cryptocarya massoy (Oken) Kosterm. (Lauraceae) from Papua New Guinea

Topul Rali, University of Papua New Guinea
Stewart W. Wossa, University of Goroka
David N. Leach, Southern Cross University

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 δ-decalactone (2.5 %).