Gas chromatography analysis of the microwave-aided extracted agarwood oil from physically induced Aquilaria malaccensis trees in Northern Thailand

Abstract

Agarwood (Aquilaria malaccensis) oil is one of the essential bioactive materials in the scent/ perfume industry for the middle east and gulf countries. The built-in functionality and availability of bioactive components of oil make agarwood more precious. In this study, the physically induced infected agarwood tree chops were extracted by microwave assisted Soxhlet extraction. Moreover, the extracted oil samples were analyzed against control not infected trees using Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) by GCMS (Agilent GC 6890zN MS 5973). The microwave assisted Soxhlet extraction revealed a higher amount of oil extraction. In the physically induced samples, 24 signal peaks were recorded employing GC-MS. The most prominent peak area recorded was -5-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-indanone detected at minute 41.89 with a peak area of 17.64%, followed by -methyl 4,4,7-trimethyl 4.7-dihydro indan -6- carboxylate at 23.17 min, occupying an area of 15.54%; followed by 3-carene recorded at 46.61 minutes with an area. According to this research, the microwave-assisted Soxhlet extraction method outperformed and can be utilized in the agarwood industry for enhanced oil production.