Comparative study on the composition of essential oil by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction and hydro-distillation from Chamaecyparis obtusa leaves

This study was focused on the comparison of the variations in the yield and chemical composition of Chamaecyparis obtusa leaf oil obtained under different pressure conditions of the supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SCE), and by hydro-distillation. SCE was carried out varying the pressure in the range of 100∼400 bar at 40°C. The chemical composition of C. obtusa leaf oils was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis. The maximum yield of 4.4% (relative to the initial mass of oven dry mass) was obtained in the extraction under 300 bar pressure, which was higher than that of the hydro-distillation method (1.9%). The contents of sesquiterpenes in the extracts obtained by the SCE were higher than those of the essential oils of C. obtusa by the hydro-distillation. The sesquiterpenes in the SCE extracts made up approximately 39%∼46% of the total, followed by monoterpenes, diterpene, and lignan. The contents of each constituent in the supercritical carbon dioxide extracts were varied on the extraction pressure. Therefore, these results showed that the extraction condition of SCE had significant effect on the yield of C. obtusa oils and its chemical composition.