Chemical composition and mosquito larvicidal activity of essential oils from leaves of different Cinnamomum osmophloeum provenances

Chemical compositions of leaf essential oils from eight provenances of indigenous cinnamon (Cinnamomum osmophloeum Kaneh.) were compared. According to GC-MS and cluster analyses, the leaf essential oils of the eight provenances and their relative contents were classified into five chemotypes-cinnamaldehyde type, linalool type, camphor type, cinnamaldehyde/cinnamyl acetate type, and mixed type. The larvicidal activities of leaf essential oils and their constituents from the five chemotypes of indigenous cinnamon trees were evaluated by mosquito larvicidal assay. Results of larvicidal tests demonstrated that the leaf essential oils of cinnamaldehyde type and cinnamaldehyde/cinnamyl acetate type had an excellent inhibitory effect against the fourth-instar larvae of Aedes aegypti. The LC₅₀ values for cinnamaldehyde type and cinnamaldehyde/cinnamyl acetate type against A. aegypti larvae in 24 h were 36 ppm (LC₉₀ = 79 ppm) and 44 ppm (LC₉₀ = 85 ppm), respectively. Results of the 24-h mosquito larvicidal assays also showed that the effective constituents in leaf essential oils were cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, anethole, and cinnamyl acetate and that the LC₅₀ values of these constituents against A. aegypti larvae were <50 ppm. Cinnamaldehyde had the best mosquito larvicidal activity, with an LC₅₀ of 29 ppm (LC ₉₀ = 48 ppm) against A. aegypti. Comparisons of mosquito larvicidal activity of cinnamaldehyde congeners revealed that cinnamaldehyde exhibited the strongest mosquito larvicidal activity.