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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
This study presents for the first time an analysis of the content and chemical composition
of the cuticular waxes and cutin in the leaves of the widespread and important tropical species
Terminalia catappa. The leaves were collected in the equatorial Atlantic islands of São Tomé and
Príncipe, in the Gulf of Guinea. The epicuticular and intracuticular waxes were determined via
dichloromethane extraction and their chemical composition via GC-MS analysis, and the content and
monomeric composition of cutin were determined after depolymerization via methanolysis. The
leaves contained an epidermal cuticular coverage of 52.8 g cm2 of the cuticular waxes (1.4% of
mass) and 63.3 g cm2 (1.5% of mass) of cutin. Cuticular waxes include mainly n-alkanols and fatty
acids, with a substantial proportion of terpenes in the more easily solubilized fraction, and sterols
in the more embedded waxes. Cutin is mostly constituted by C16 fatty acids and dihydroxyacids,
also including aromatic monomers, suggesting a largely linear macromolecular arrangement. The
high proportion of triacontanol, a-amyrin, b-amyrin, germanicol, and lupeol in the easily solubilized
cuticular fraction may explain the bioactive properties attributed to the T. catappa leaves via the
popular medicine, which allows us to consider them as a potential source for the extraction of
these compounds.
Description
Keywords
cuticle tropical almond extracts triacontanol triterpenes popular medicine a-amyrin b-amyrin germanicol lupeol
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Pereira, H.; Simões, R.; Miranda, I. CuticularWaxes and Cutin in Terminalia catappa Leaves from the Equatorial São Tomé and Príncipe Islands. Molecules 2023, 28, 6365
Publisher
MDPI