Essential oil compositions and cytotoxic activities of Dendropanax capillaris, Oreopanax nubigenus, and Schefflera rodrigueziana from Monteverde, Costa Rica.

The leaf essential oils of Dendropanax capillaris, Oreopanax nubigenus and Schefflera rodrigueziana (Araliaceae) were isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS. The leaf oil of Dendropanax capillaris was composed of only four compounds, beta-pinene (25.3%), 6-3-carene (44.7%), daucene (17.1%), and dauca-5,8-diene (12.9%). Oreopanax nubigenus leaf oil was dominated by the sesquiterpene hydrocarbons germacrene D (70.1%) and beta-caryophyllene (11.8%), while Schefflera rodrigueziana leaf oil was made up entirely of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, mostly germacrene D (27.6%), beta-cubebene (27.2%), beta-caryophyllene (12.2%), beta-cubebene (11.1%), and alpha-copaene (10.8%). Both O. nubigenus and S. rodrigueziana leaf oils showed notable in-vitro cytotoxicity on MDA-MB-231 cells, which may be attributable to the relatively high concentrations of germacrene D and beta-caryophyllene in those oils.