abstract the chemical composition of essential oils extracted from xylopia frutescens aubl. (annonaceae) fruit (collected in pernambuco, brazil) was examined by tlc and gc/ms. tlc analysis detected compounds from the flavonoid and terpenoid groups. gc/ms detected 23 terpenoid compounds, in which the principal components were germacrene d (24.2%), linalool (12.1%), -pinene (8.0%), cis-sabinene hydrate (7.9%), trans-pinocarveol (7.8%), -copaene (7.0%) and limonene (5.6%). other constituents found were sabinene, m-cymene, 1,8-cineole, -ocimene, perillene, cis-sabinol, -campholenal, isopinocamphone, terpinen-4-ol, verbenone, trans-carveol, carvone, perillyl alcohol, -cubebene, -cadinene and elemol. most of these compounds have not been detected in fruit extracts of x frutescens before; therefore this study represents the most comprehensive analysis to date of the chemical components in the fruits of this plant.