SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE EXTRACTION AND GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY ANALYSIS OF JASMINUM SAMBAC ESSENTIAL OIL

Jasmine essential oil is one of the most expensive oils that was used in cosmetics, the pharmaceutical industry, perfumery and aromatherapy. It has therapeutic properties and can be used as an analgesic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic and stimulant. In the present study, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was exploited to extract essential oil constituents from 20 kg jasmine flowers at closed bud and open flower stages. Results indicated that flowers harvested at the open stage yielded more absolute oil than those harvested at the closed bud stage. Slight variations in physical properties like refractive index, congealing point, optical rotation, and specific gravity were recorded in the essential oil extracted from flowers harvested at different stages. Gas chromatography of the jasmine oil was carried out to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the oil constituents. Major compounds identified were citronellol, phenyl ethyl alcohol, geranial, eugenol, farnesol, geranyl acetate, citrinyl acetate, 2-phenyl ethyl acetate, citral (mixture of cis and trans), and benzyldehyde. Both harvesting stages yielded oil with differences in the percentage composition of each component, but flowers harvested at the open stage had higher yield and more components than those from the closed bud stage.