The co
mposition of the spas
molytic essential oil of the
medicinal species
Brickellia veronicaefolia was established byNMR spectroscopy in addition to GC-MS analysis and HPLC studies. Seven
major co
mpounds, representing ca. 86%of the oil, were identified as benzyl 2,6-di
methoxybenzoate (
1), 2-hydroxybenzyl 2'-
methoxybenzoate (
2), cha
mazulene(
3),
![](/i<font color=)
mages/gifchars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-caryophyllene (
4), ger
macrene D (
5), bicycloger
macrene (
6), and
![](/i<font color=)
mages/gifchars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-eudes
mol (
7). A sensitive and accurate analytical
1H NMR
method has been developed for the quantification of the
major co
mpounds in the essential oil of
B. veronicaefolia.The
method was validated using benzyl 2,6-di
methoxybenzoate (
1) and
![](/i<font color=)
mages/gifchars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-caryophyllene (
4), two of the active principlesin the oil, and successfully applied to the deter
mination of these phar
macologically active co
mpounds in three differentbatches of the oil collected in different geographical regions and/or seasons.