Effects of extraction methods on yield and chemical compounds of gaharu (Aquilaria malaccensis)

Abstract

Different extraction methods affect the yield and chemical compounds of gaharu oil. Hydrodistillation, Soxhlet and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) methods were studied for their extraction yields and percentages of five specific chemical compounds, namely, 3-phenyl-2-butanone, α-guaiene, a-agarofuran, 10-epi-γ-eudesmol and agarospirol. Chemical compounds were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Results showed that ASE method exhibited the highest oil recovery (2.12%) compared with Soxhlet (1.67%) and hydrodistillation (0.18%). The total percentage of the five chemical compounds were higher in gaharu oil extracted using ASE (21.60%), followed by Soxhlet (9.51%) and hydrodistillation (5.08%) methods. However, hydrodistillation exhibited fewer chemical compounds (only three of five, i.e. a-agarofuran, 10-epi-γ-eudesmol and agarospirol) compared with Soxhlet and ASE methods. ASE was the most suitable method to obtain high amount of gaharu oil containing the five chemical compounds with highest total compound percentage. ASE reduced extraction time, making it a practical method compared with Soxhlet and hydrodistillation.