Abstract

ARANGO, OSCAR; HURTADO, ANDRÉS; CASTILLO, PATRICIA  and  SANTACRUZ, MÓNICA. STUDY OF EXTRACTION CONDITIONS OF "LAUREL DE CERA" (Morella pubescens) ESSENTIAL OIL BY MEANS OF STEAM DISTILLATION. Rev.Bio.Agro [online]. 2009, vol.7, n.2, pp.40-48. ISSN 1692-3561.

Because of its characteristics, the "Laurel de Cera" tree (Morella pubescens) proves to be very appropriate for the erosion control. Its fruits are employed as a means to obtain wax that is used in the process of making Panela by rural communities settled in the southern region of Colombia. The extraction process of essential oil from "Laurel de Cera" tree leaves through steam distillation and its effects over the composition of volatile secondary metabolites present were considered for the research. Particle size and extraction time were the studied factors. The chromatogram total area (counts) taken as the oil concentration indicator parameter and the relative percentage were the considered response variables. According to the previous information, it was possible to determine that the time as well as the interaction time - particle size have significant effects (P-value <0,05) over the essential oil's concentration. It was also possible to observe a meaningful increment in the chromatogram's area for the majority component when the extraction time was increased. The identification of the volatile secondary metabolites present in the essential oil was carried out through a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Such procedure gave as results trans caryophyllene (23,3%), α-selinene (10,7%), β-selinene (10,0%) caryophyllene oxide (4,8%), seline-3,7(11)-diene (3,3%) and β-elemene (2,6%) as majority components. These compounds' biological activities allow thinking that the essential oil from the "Laurel de Cera" tree leaves could be of great interest for the pharmabusiness and the cosmetic industries.

Keywords : Laurel de cera; Morella pubescens; essential oil; steam distillation; GC-MS.

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