Planta Med 2011; 77 - PL91
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282740

Comparison of chemical composition of Artemisia annua volatile oil from Romania

ET Toth 1, AC Dezso 2, A Kapas 3, J Pako 1, MC Ichim 4
  • 1Targu Mures University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Gheorghe Marinescu St., 38, 540139, Targu Mures, Romania
  • 2Sapientia University, Department of Food Science, Libertăţii Sq., 1, Miercurea Ciuc, 530104, Romania
  • 3Politehnica University of Bucharest, Department of Chemical Engineering, Spl. Independentei, 313, 060042, Bucharest, Romania
  • 4NIRDBS/“Stejarul“ Research Centre for Biological Sciences, Alexandru cel Bun St., 6, Piatra Neamt, 610004, Romania

The aim of our work was to obtain and compare, quantitatively and qualitatively, the composition of volatile oil from the Artemisia annua L. (sweet wormwood). The fresh plant material, harvested from a Romanian natural population and Anamed (A3) cultivar, was distilled with the classical Clevenger (HD) and the microwave assisted (MWHD) laboratory hydrodistillation [1]. The MWHD apparatus, with original design, was equipped with a microwave oven (750 W), a rotating head and a Clevenger extension. The volatile oil samples were analyzed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and gas chromatography (GC).

The amount of volatile oil obtained was 0.57 respectively 0.58% v/w (HD) and 0.69% v/w (MWHD). The operation time for MWHD was 20 minutes and 180 minutes for HD. With TLC 11 spots were visualised; in case of MWHD volatile oil, the intensity and area of several spots were greater. The GC analysis has shown significant differences in the chemical composition of volatile oil between Romanian population and Anamed (A3) cv., which is consistent with other researches performed on natural populations [2]. About 100 peaks were obtained and 17 constituents were identified by GC. For Anamed (A3) cv. the main components, for both HD and MWHD, were artemisia ketone (38.0/41.2%), 1.8-cineole (11.9/13.0%), borneol (8.7/8.8%) and camphor (8.4/9.1%). MWHD method was faster then HD and the quantity of volatile oil was higher by 19%. The main components ratio was also slightly higher in this case. Hence, the MWHD methods seem to be more efficient for essential oil hydrodistillation at laboratory scale.

References: [1] Toth ET et al. (2010) Acta Medica Marisiensis 56(2): 61.

[2] Hethelyi EB et al. (1995)J Essent Oil Res 7: 45–48.