Isolation of guaiene from crude and distillate patchouli oil extracted by molecular distillation

Abstract

Guaiene is one of the components of sesquiterpenes that affects the patchouli oil fragrance. It is commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry and is also used as a flavoring and fragrance agent in the food industry. The objective of this study was to obtain the highest content of guaiene and to investigate the effect of the isolation stage by the molecular distillation process. Crude and distillate fraction patchouli oil samples were introduced into the molecular distillation system. The process conditions applied were first-stage and second-stage molecular distillation. Parameters observed were in terms of chemical composition and color. Results obtained the highest content of a-guaiene in the patchouli oil fraction distillate provided by second-stage molecular distillation (23.53%). However, the highest content of A-guaiene was revealed in second-stage molecular distillation residues (33.15%) of patchouli oil fraction distillate samples. The chromaticity value of the second stage distillate was yellow while the residue was yellow-red, respectively.