Abstract
Lavandula angustifolia is one of the most widely cultivated non-food crops used in the production of essential oil; it is used in perfumery, aromatherapy, pharmaceutical preparations, and food ingredients. In this study, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and molecular distillation (MD) were combined, primarily to enrich scCO2 extracts with lavender oxygenated monoterpenes, avoiding thermal degradation, hydrolysis, and solvent contamination, and maintaining the natural characteristics of the obtained oils. Molecular distillation was developed for the first time for the extraction of crucial lavender fragrance ingredients, i.e., from two scCO2 extracts obtained from dry flower stems of lavender cultivated in Poland and Bulgaria. The best results for high-quality distillates were obtained at 85 °C (EVT) and confirmed that linalyl acetate content increased from 51.54 mg/g (initial Bulgarian lavender extract, L-Bg-E) and 89.53 mg/g (initial Polish lavender extract, L-Pl-E) to 118.41 and 185.42 mg/g, respectively, corresponding to increases of 2.3 and 2.1 times in both distillate streams, respectively. The distillates, light oils, and extracts from lavender were also evaluated for their antimicrobial properties by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the broth microdilution method. Generally, Gram-positive bacteria and Candida spp. were more sensitive to all distilled fractions and extracts than Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacteria).
Highlights
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.), recognizable as medicinal lavender, is a known source of precious fragrance molecules, with predominating linalyl acetate and linalool, which belong to the group of oxygenated monoterpenes, representing 73% of essential oil compositions [1]
Since the most precious components of Lavandula angustifolia Mill. are oxygenated compounds, including derivatives of monoterpenes, i.e., esters and alcohols, sesquiterpenes, and lactones, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been utilized for the extraction of Lavandula angustifolia of different origins (Bulgarian and Polish)
In accordance with this reported data, a similar extraction yield was obtained for the extraction of Lavandula angustifolia of Polish origin (L-Pl) in this paper, resulting in 7.05 wt% as a ratio of the obtained extract mass to the feed mass for the extraction
Summary
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.), recognizable as medicinal lavender, is a known source of precious fragrance molecules, with predominating linalyl acetate and linalool, which belong to the group of oxygenated monoterpenes, representing 73% of essential oil compositions [1]. Both compounds are responsible for a wide range of pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antibacterial, anti-viral, antioxidant, cicatrizant properties, and anxiety-reducing [2,3,4,5,6]. Extraction is the first step toward separating bioactive compounds and, may be considered as a pre-stage for further separation [15]
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