Comparison of composition of volatile compounds in ten Salvia species isolated by different methods

Abstract

AbstractThe composition of volatile compounds isolated from ten Salvia spp., namely S. amplexicaulis, S. austriaca, S. forsskaolei, S. glutinosa, S. nemorosa, S. officinalis, S. pratensis, S. sclarea, S. dumetorum and S. verticillata, by simultaneous distillation/extraction in a Likens‐Nickerson apparatus (L‐N) and supercritical fluid extraction with carbon dioxide (SFE‐CO2) is reported. S. officinalis and S. sclarea are the most thoroughly studied Salvia spp., whereas other selected in this study Salvia spp. remain underinvestigated; to the best of our knowledge, there are no available publications on the composition of volatiles in S. forsskaolei and S. dumetorum. It was demonstrated that S. officinalis accumulates the highest amount of volatiles compounds, followed by S. sclarea; while other studied species are poor sources of volatiles. Regarding extraction method, the amount of volatiles isolated from 1 kg of dried plant material by SFE‐CO2 was 1.4–5.9 times lower comparing to L‐N method, most likely due to the losses of volatiles with exhausting from the system CO2 after depressurizing extraction equipment. Taking into account these findings, further studies should be focused on improving the method of collection of volatiles in SFE‐CO2 process and on the determination of other, non‐volatile valuable compounds, which may be present in the lipophilic CO2 extracts of under‐investigated Salvia spp.