Investigation on the physical and chemical properties of essential oil extracted from pogostemon cablin (blanco) benth (patchouli) in Tien Giang province

Abstract

Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. (Patchouli) essential oil has a wide variety of applications in cosmetic and aromatherapeutic industry. For this reason, the properties of Patchouli essential oil in Tien Giang, Viet Nam should be studied to improve local income and for further researches. Four methods used for extracting essential oil are steam distillation, ultrasonic solvent extraction, immersion and stirring solvent extraction. The essential oil is subject to examine the physical, chemical characteristics as well as determining compositions by GC and GC-MS. The comparison is made among all the methods. The result shows that steam distillation method produces the highest yield of 3.49%. However, high temperature used in this method can have negative effects on the properties of essential oil. Ultrasonic solvent method gives the highest amount of patchouli alcohol (41.96%) .

KEY WORDS: Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth, Patchouli, essential oil,

steam distillation, ultrasonic solvent extraction, GC, GC-MS, patchouli alcohol.