Deodorizing Effects of Wild Grass Extracts against Methanethiol

Abstract

We investigated the deodorizing effects of hot-water extracts of samples of 26 species of wild grasses native to Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture against methanethiol (CH3SH), and compared them with the deodorizing effects of methanol extracts of the samples. The deodorizing activities were determined from the amounts of CH3SH remaining using headspace gas chromatography. Each of the 5.0mg hot-water extracts and methanol extracts was added to CH3SH and then examined. As a result, deodorizing effects stronger than those of green tea were observed in hot-water extracts of samples of 12 species and methanol extracts of samples of 11 species. Furthermore, deodorizing activities of 100% were found in eight species. Among them, the deodorant active substances of Glechoma hederacea [2], Artemisia capillaries [3], Porentilla fragarioides [4], Gnaphalium affine [5], Stenactis annuus [6], and Oenothera biennis [8] were more effectively extracted by hot-water extraction than methanol extraction. These substantial deodorizing effects of hot-water extracts of wild grasses have not been reported to data. This experiment suggests that substances originating from plants are promising for possible deodorant applications.