Effects of ultrasound pre-treatment on quantity and quality of essential oil of tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) leaves

Publication date: Available online 31 October 2017 Source:Journal of Applied Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Author(s): Leila Bahmani, Mohammad Aboonajmi, Akbar Arabhosseini, Hossein Mirsaeedghazi Hydro-distillation with ultrasound was used for extraction of essential oil of tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) leaves. The results of this method were compared with a traditional distillation method considering the extraction kinetics as well as the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of the essential oil. The experiments were ran at three sound power levels (250, 350 and 500W), three levels of sonication time (20, 30 and 40min) as well as without sonication as a control in a completely randomized design with three replications. Gas chromatography was used to identify the essential oil compounds. Antioxidant properties were studied using the reducing DPPH radical method. The statistical results showed that the effect of ultrasound power on the essences extracted was not significant. The effect of sonication time on the essential oil content was significant at the 5% level. The highest amount of extracted oil was observed at the power of 500W for 30min while the lowest amount was found at 500W for 40min. The highest percentage of estragole, which is the most important compound of tarragon was achieved with the proposed method. The highest antioxidant activity was for the extracted essential oil using ultrasound pre-treatment with 350W power for 30min and th...
Source: Journal of Applied Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants - Category: Complementary Medicine Source Type: research