Abstract
Essential oils (EOs) are commonly used in aromatherapy and offer a number of health benefits. However, the photosensitivity of citrus EO family limits their applications. It is important to characterize the compositional changes of EOs upon possible factors affecting their stability, such as light and water content. In this study, we used gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometry detector to investigate the constituents of commercial citrus EOs (lemon, orange) and herb EOs (clary sage, lavender). The result indicated that limonene was the most abundant compound in citrus EOs and followed by β-pinene or β-myrcene. Linalyl acetate and β-linalool were the major constituents in herb EOs. It is surprised to find that almost no change in chemical composition under sunlight exposure for 2hr. In contrast, the amount of terpene hydrocarbons decreased greatly in citrus OEs with H2O addition and under sunlight exposure, which might be converted to oxidative compounds, such as carveol, ρ-cymene and limonene oxide. However, herb EOs was much less photosensitive, which are more potential to become a stable material for daily used products application.
Highlights
Essential oils (EOs) are complex mixture and highly concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile plant secondary metabolites belong to terpenoids and aromatic groups
We demonstrated that Gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometry (GC-mass spectrometry (MS)) is a quick and reliable platform for EOs analysis in both qualification and quantification
gas chromatography (GC)-MS chromatography for lemon and orange EOs prior to treatment are shown GC-MS chromatograms of lemon and orange EOs prior to treatment as control are shown in Figure 1 I-A and IIA, respectively
Summary
Essential oils (EOs) are complex mixture and highly concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile plant secondary metabolites belong to terpenoids and aromatic groups They are usually extracted from various parts of plants (flower, leaf or fruit) by different methods such as steam/water distillation, solvent extraction or cold expression, etc. The main reasons are that citrus peels are obtained and naturally high in pectin, their antioxidant activity, and relative benefits from vitamin C and flavonoids [1]. When they are made into EOs, the main product, limonene, has been proved to inhibit cancer cells initiation, promotion and progression [4]. It is believed to be benefit for stress, exhaustion, headaches, depression and digestion problems, and even have application of food preservation [2]
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