ABSTRACT
The lavender flowers and their essential oil are widely used in therapy in Romania and the European Community. Since the European Pharmacopoeia only allows the use of Lavandula sp flowers for medicinal purposes, the objective of this study was to investigate the chemical composition of Lavandula angustifolia extracts obtained by ultrasound-assisted extraction, rapid pressurized extraction at 6.7 bar, and subcritical fluid extraction. The solvents used for the first two methods were mixtures of water and alcohol, glycerin, and propylene glycol. These extracts were analyzed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography, infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance, and Raman spectroscopy. The total phenolics were evaluated using a modified Folin–Ciocalteu method. The primary phenolics were chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, umbelliferone, luteolin 7-O-glucoside, vitexin, and isoquercitroside. The extracts were variable in composition, with the highest yield by subcritical fluid extraction, followed by extraction at 6.7 bar. The infrared and Raman spectroscopy results confirmed the chromatography measurements.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2801. Authors hereby acknowledge the structural founds project PRO-DD (POS-CCE, O.2.2.1., ID 123, SMIS 2637, No 11/2009) for providing the infrastructure used in this work.