| dc.description.abstract | Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume (Lauraceae),
locally known as “Kurundu” is an endemic
Cinnamon cultivar to Sri Lanka. Solvent Free
Microwave Extraction (SFME) is a green
extraction technique presently used to extract
essential oils from medicinal plants. In this study
the essential oil from bark of C. zeylanicum was
extracted by using SFME and hydro distillation
(HD) techniques. Extracted C. zeylanicum oil was
characterized by using Gas Chromatography (GC)
and Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry
(GC-MS) and the constituents in essential oils
obtained with the two techniques were compared
along with their efficiency. The dried bark of C.
zeylanicum was subjected to SFME (Microwave
power: 700 W for 10 minutes and 500 W for 50
minutes) and HD to extract the essential oil. The
essential oils were analyzed using GC and GC-MS.
The extraction time for SFME was found to be less
(1.0 h) in comparison to that of HD method (6.0 h)
to obtain comparable yield of oil (SFME: 1.13%
and HD: 1.00%). The GC-MS analysis enabled the
identification of 41 compounds from the extracted
essential oil using both techniques. Transcinnamaldehyde,
the predominant compound
was detected higher in the oil obtained from SFME
(75.37±0.56%) over that of, HD (55.21±0.02%).
In the bark oils obtained from both extraction
methods, phenylpropanoids were found to be the
most abundant group of compounds followed by
monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. The results
indicate that SFME is an efficient method for
extraction of essential oils over HD in terms of
yield, extraction time and trans-cinnamaldehyde
content. | en_US |
