Extraction of Essential oils from Cymbopogon citratus using Organic solvents

Abstract

Essential oils are extracted from diverse plants and used in medicinal field for diverse conditions. The presence of unique aromatic compounds imparts aroma and medicinal values. Essential oil plays a vital role in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and also acts as rejuvenate. Though there are various plants from which essential oil are extracted, our study focuses on the extraction and comparison of the phytochemicals released from the fresh leaves of Cymbopogon citratus using two different organic solvents; (a). hexane (b) hexane and toluene in the ratio 1:1. Extraction was performed for 16 hours in Soxhlet extractor. The amount of oil obtained was weighed in both extractions and subjected to GC MS for phytochemical analysis. Results revealed that when the solvents hexane and toluene in the ratio 1:1 was used it gave a better yield of 3% from 5 gram of fresh leaves, while hexane yielded only 1.5%. The GC-MS analysis revealed that the compound released from both extractions are of diverse medicinal values and can be used in aromatherapy as rejuvenate. The compounds nerol (2,6 octadienal, 3,7 dimethyl.Z) and geraniol (2,6 octadienal, 3,7 dimethyl) are the common phytochemicals extracted .Nerol and geraniol are geometric isomers. Geraniol is reported as an efficient anticancer agent with additional properties of analgesic, antinflammatory and antiseptic values. Nerol is used as a fragrance. The compound 1 acetyl 4 hydroxy pyrrolidine 2 one is extracted when hexane and toluene were used for extraction in the ratio 1:1. It is reported to be anti-rheumatic and effective in the treatment of hips and joints. Hence it can be concluded that hexane and toluene in the ratio 1:1 can be used for extraction of oil considering its medicinal values and the increased % of extraction rather than using hexane alone.