PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF LATEX FROM EUPHORBIA TIRUCALLI L. (AVELÓS) USING GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY COUPLED TO MASS SPECTROMETRY

Abstract

The plant species Euphorbia tirucalli L., (Euphorbiaceae), popularly known as Avelós, is a plant of African origin widely used in folk medicine in the treatment of cancers, ulcers, inflammation and warts. It is considered a toxic plant, as its latex is corrosive in contact with the skin and mucosa. In this work, latex was collected from young stems. The collected latex was lyophilized for stabilization and drying, avoiding enzymatic degradation and oxidation, and subsequently fractionated in chloroform and hexane. Chloroform and Hexanic fractions were analyzed by Gas Chromatography Coupled with Mass Spectrometry. A variety of compounds were observed, such as dibutylsterethanedioic acid, 1-epi-cubenol, geraniol, indolizine, copaene, valerolactone, cubebene, cadienene.