Different Extracting Methods of Medicinal Herbs

Abstract

Salvia officinalis L. is well known as an aromatic and medicinal plant in Albania. Several studies suggest that Salvia officinalis L., in addition to treating minor common illnesses, might potentially provide novel natural treatments for the relief or cure of many serious and life-threatening diseases such as depression, dementia, obesity, diabetes, lupus, heart disease, cancer or antibacterial treatments. The most common methods used for obtaining extracts of essential oils are water distillation, distillation with organic solvents such as hexane, ethanol, methanol and extraction with liquid CO2 under pressure as well. The extracts fractions obtained by these methods are of interest especially in the fields of pharmacology, cosmetic, medicine, food chemistry etc. In this study the extraction of essential oil from Salvia officinalis L is carried out by using an organic solvent (hexane) and liquid CO2 solvent under pressure at 40 0 C. The essential oil extracts are analyzed by thin layer chromatography. The amount of essential oil and the overall yield obtained by hexane distillation method is lower than that obtained by CO2 extraction method. These findings demonstrated that the amount of S. Officinalis oils obtained by CO2 extraction method is optimal, making that suitable for a possible use in pharmaceutical purposes.