Composition of the Essential Oils of Commercial Samples of Salvia officinalis L. and S. fruticosa Miller: A Comparison of Oils Obtained by Extraction and Steam Distillation

✍ Scribed by R. Länger; Ch. Mechtler; J. Jurenitsch

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 454 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0958-0344
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1565(199611)7:6<289::aid-pca318>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

The essential oils of commercially available samples of leaves of Salvia of$cinulis L. and S. fruticosa MILLER obtained by steam-distillation and dichloromethane extraction were analysed by gas liquid chromatography. Although standardized conditions of sample preparation were employed, differences in the composition of the oils were found: steam distillation yielded a reduced amount of the less volatile compounds, and the accuracy of determination was significantly lower than in the case of extraction. The commercial samples, which differed considerably in the composition of their essential oils, were quite inhomogeneous in respect to their oil content partly due to the different ages of the leaves. Extraction of individual leaves of S. officinalis showed a decrease in the a-thujone content, with a corresponding increase in the relative amount of camphor, related to leaf age. Owing to the observed variability of the essential oil composition of S. oficinalis, the relative contents of athujone, P-thujone and camphor have to be totalled in order to form a significant parameter for the characterization of Salviu species. This parameter varies between 45 and 68% in S. officinalis and between 4.8 and 15.9% in S. fruticosa with a small standard deviation. Consideration of this parameter together with the amount of 1,tl-cineole ( S officinaiis-2.8 to 23%; S. fruficosa-55 to 75%) permits the differentiation between these species and respective mixtures.