Abstract

Piper is a large and highly diverse genus of plants with medicinal and aromatic use. It is widely distributed in tropical forests occupying distinct environments. We have determined the chemical composition of the essential oils from 11 species of Piper from seven locations of Atlantic rainforest in Brazil. The essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation and their composition, determined by GC–MS. The chemical composition of the oils exhibits qualitative and quantitative differences among the species and intraspecifically for distinct locations. Mono and sesquiterpenes were the most abundant compounds, although P. aduncum also contained phenylpropanoids. The oils of P. xylosteoides, P. umbellatum and P. leptorum from coastal and inland regions consisted exclusively of oxygenated sesquiterpenes. In contrast, monoterpene was the sole chemical class in the oils extracted from P. rivinoides and P. solmsianum. Hierarchical clustering analyses demonstrated the chemical phenotype is associated to species-specific and environmental factors. The essential oils from the majority of the investigated Piper species exhibit inhibitory activity against pathogenic bacteria in vitro, reaching up to 30% of the inhibition levels of commercial antibiotics. The contents of bicyclogermacre and γ-muurolene were positively associated to E. coli inhibition, whereas, levels of germacrene D and trans-caryophyllene were associated to the inhibitory activity against all tested bacteria. Limonene and cis-β-ocymene were associated with Staphylococci inhibition. Higher contents of β‐phellandrene were positively correlated to wide spectrum antibacterial activity. Taken together, our results demonstrate the chemical diversity of Piper essential oils and their potential as novel antibacterial agents for several industrial applications.

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