Impact of Supercritical Fluid Extraction and Traditional Distillation on the Isolation of Aromatic Compounds from Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa

Abstract

The chemical composition of essential oils hydrodistilled (HD), steam distilled (SD) and supercritical fluid extracted (SCFE) from the leaves of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica from Pakistan were being reported. Maximum yield of essential oil for both strains was obtained at 110°C, 130°C and 45°C for hydrodistillation, steam distillation and supercritical fluid extraction respectively. Yields of essential oil using SCFE technique were more than HD and SD extraction respectively. The main compounds of C. sativa essential oil were characterized by large amounts of caryophyllene (40.6-50.0%), humulene (9.51-16.0%), trans-α- bergamotene (4.42-6.31%) cis-β-farnesene (8.63-9.01%) and δ-limonene (5.13-8.19%) respectively. The main components of Cannabis indica were caryophyllene (21.1-25.1%), carophyllene oxide (4.13-5.02%), linalool (20.8-22.1%), trans-α-bergamotene (3.23-5.16%) and cis-β-farnesene (2.10-3.68%), menthol (7.20-9.43%), δ- limonene (6.13-7.19%), eucalyptol (9.67-12.10%), and carvone (2.11-5.13%) respectively.