Abstract
Studies about forest species little known are basic in the determination of its technological properties, inserting in this context several legume species. Studies on the classes of natural compounds have been identified in the Leguminosae family compounds such as flavonoids, terpenoids, sterols, tannins, alkaloids and so on. This work aimed to evaluate the main classes of chemical components present in the bark of 29 legume species, by means of specific chemical tests for cianogenic compounds, phenols and tannins, flavonoids, sterols and terpens, saponins, alkaloids, antranols, from the bark ethanolic extractives of these species. The results had shown that the biggest number of chemical classes was detected in Albizia polyantha and Swartzia macrocarpa, identifying in its extractives ten classes amongst the twelve groups studied. Condensed tannins were detected in all species, except in Tachigali paniculata, which only presented hydrolysable tannins. The Mora paraensis, Inga disticha and T. paniculata species presented condensed tannins as well as hydrolysable tannins. The highest tannin content (Stiasny Number) was detected in Stryphnodendron guianense (26.2%), and in M. paraensis (24.1%), species where the aqueous extractives were 33.5% and 35.5%, respectively. A data base containing these results is being constructed at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and will permanently be brought up to date, in order to make available via Web information about the chemical profile of the Amazonian legume species.