Comparative study of recovery and selectivity of extraction methods of winter savory (Satureja montana L.) essential oil

Abstract

Medicinal and aromatic plants are widely used for prevention and treatment of diseases There is increasing interest in medicinal plants which accumulate not only biologically active phenolic compounds or vitamins, but also essential oil [3]. Winter savory (Satureja montana L.) like other Lamiaceae family plants is rich in essential oil [2] and non-volatile phenolic compounds [1]. Therefore this plant was chosen as a model to investigate different extraction methods of essential oil such as aqueous 75  methanol extraction, supercritical CO2 fluid extraction and hydro distillation. The aim of this study was to compare recovery and selectivity of different extraction methods of Satureja montana L. essential oil. Results of the investigation have shown that the highest extraction recovery of S. montana L. essential oil is obtained by 75  methanol extraction  51.2  2.2 . Extraction methods differed by selectivity for different compound classes of the essential oil: hydro distillation method demonstrated the highest selectivity for monoterpenes while selectivity for oxygenated monoterpenes was relatively similar of all investigated extraction methods. It was shown that 75  methanol extraction method is of maximum selectivity for sesquiterpenes which is comparable to selectivity determined by supercritical CO2 fluid extraction method. Moreover, investigation revealed that supercritical fluid extraction method at the conditions investigated and hydro distillation selectively extract only volatile essential oil components.