Potential antitermite compounds from Juniperus procera extracts

Thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis revealed that destructive distillation of Juniperus procera tree gave ten major components, whereas Croton megalocarpus tree yielded five components. This was confirmed by gas chromatography (GC). The components were isolated by column chromatography and analysed using infrared, ultra-violet, visible and mass spectroscopy (MS) techniques. The whole extract was about 30.3% of the starting material (sawdust) and consisted of 77.5% water and 22.5% oily reddish-brown layer. The extracts had alcoholic and phenolic compounds together with acids. Cedrol, a tertiary tricyclic alcohol, was found to be in the greatest proportion in the oily layer. IR spectra with a peak beyond 3000 cm−1, UV-VIS absorption maxima at 230 nm and mass spectra with m/e 204 suggested the presence of cedrene in the extract.