Insect repellent potential of oil from Euphorbia Heterophylla leaves

This study is aimed at characterizing essential oil from leaves of E.heterophylla and its insect repellent potential. Essential oil from fresh leaves of E.heterophylla was extracted by hydro distillation method using a Clevenger apparatus for 4 hours and the yield was 0.1816%w/w. Repellence test was conducted by using 5 cockroaches in number which were placed in a modified Y-tube Olfactometer and observations recorded for each and every odour introduced after 5 minutes in a relatively dark room. Repellency activity was computed in percentage form and it showed 100%. Analysis of the chemical constituents of the essential oil was done by Gas Chromatography coupled with a Mass Selective Detector showed Ethyl benzene (4.92%) p- Xylene (2.31%) Nonane (1.59%) Decane (2.04%) Undecane (3.36%) 3-cyclohexen-1-ol 4- methyl-1-(1-methylethyl)-(3.37%) as the constituents of the essential oil from E.heterophylla leaves. All these chemical constituents are active ingredients for insect repellants thus this essential oil can be used a natural based insect repellant to replace the synthetic insect repellants.