Deterpenation of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis var. typicus L.) leaf essential oil using a mathematical model of kinetic guided hydrodistillation

ABSTRACT

This study is the first to investigate the deterpenation of Tunisian Rosmarinus officinalis L. leaf essential oil using hydrodistillation kinetic model and its effect on antioxidant activity. The essential oil yield was a subject of mathematical modeling and qualitative differences in the volatile composition of rosemary essential oil, and the obtained fractions were determined by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. Totally, 42 volatile compounds were identified with the predominance of oxygenated monoterpenes (40.41–91.25%) especially including 1,8-cineole, camphor and endo-borneol. Monoterpene hydrocarbons varied from 12.94% to 42.98% and mainly comprised α-pinene and camphene. These results were treated by statistical multivariant analysis to fix out the appropriate conditions for the best deterpened essential oil. Significant correlations were observed between the separated fractions and antioxidant activities highlighted by a simultaneous increase of both antiradical potential and oxygenated sesquiterpene levels.

KEYWORDS:

• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.)
• kinetic
• deterpenation
• essential oil
• antioxidant activity

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology for financial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.