abstract the volatile compounds from fruits of talisia esculenta harvested in northeastern brazil, were obtained by hydrodistillation using clevenger-type apparatus and analyzed by gc-fid and gc/ms. nineteen compounds were identified and pyrazines were the major compounds (representing 64.8-70.4% of the oil), mainly 2,5-diethylpyrazine (64.2-69.1%). oxygenated monoterpenes also predominated (6.6-6.8% of the oil) besides high abundance of furfural (18.0-22.8%). key word index: talisia esculenta sapindaceaepitombaessential oil composition2,5-diethylpyrazinefurfural