Volatile components extracted from hawthorn by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction as affected by polarities of co-solvents

Abstract

Hawthorn fruit is highly valuable to be used as functional food and traditional medicine. It is important to extract and identify volatile components from hawthorn. The aim of this study was to investigate the volatile components from hawthorn. The volatile components of hawthorn were extracted by supercritical carbon dioxide fluid extraction method combined with different polar co-solvents and identified by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thirty-nine, twenty-nine, thirty-three, twenty-two and seventeen volatile chemical compounds were extracted with co-solvent methanol, 95% ethanol, anhydrous ethanol, ethyl acetate and without co-solvent, respectively, and indentified by GC-MS. This study will provide a scientific basis for potential application of hawthorn in food and pharmaceutical industry.