CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ILEX PARAGUARIENSIS ST. HILL. LEAF (YERBA-MATE) AND OTHER SPECIES USED IN MATE ADULTERATION

Abstract

The Ilex paraguariensis St. Hil. (mate) is a native species of South America. Its leaves and fines, dry and triturated are used to prepare “chimarrão” as well as for “terere”, soluble tea, tea and for pharmaceuthical applications. Due to the high demand of the product, adulteration with other native species is frequent. This paper deals with the identification of different chemical compounds in the leaves of mate and in some other species, commonly used in the adulteration of it, by means of chemical and instrumental analyses. The results indicated that I. dumosa contained, among other compounds, saponins of hemolitic action while P. sellowii presented cianidric action (0,032% in the dry plant). It was also verified that the chemical composition is highly related to the species, to the harvest time, to the position and age of leaves and to climate and soil conditions.