Molecular Distillation of Lavender Supercritical Extracts: Physicochemical and Antimicrobial Characterization of Feedstocks and Assessment of Distillates Enriched with Oxygenated Fragrance Components

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-02, Vol.27 (5), p.1470
• Main Authors: Dębczak, Agnieszka, Tyśkiewicz, Katarzyna, Fekner, Zygmunt, Kamiński, Piotr, Florkowski, Grzegorz, Konkol, Marcin, Rój, Edward, Grzegorczyk, Agnieszka, Malm, Anna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Anti-Infective Agents - chemistry; Anti-Infective Agents - pharmacology; antibacterial and antifungal activity; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antioxidants; Aromatherapy; Bacteria; Biodegradation; Carbon dioxide; Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid - methods; Coliforms; coumarins; Distillates; Distillation; Distillation - methods; Essential oils; Food contamination; Fractionation; Fractions; Fragrances; Gram-negative bacteria; Gram-positive bacteria; Industrial crops; Ingredients; Laboratories; Lavandula - chemistry; Lavandula angustifolia; lavender; Linalyl acetate; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Minimum inhibitory concentration; molecular distillation; Molecular weight; Monoterpenes; natural wax ingredients; Nonfood crops; Oils & fats; Oils, Volatile - chemistry; Oils, Volatile - pharmacology; Oxygen enrichment; oxygenated terpenes; Oxygenation; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Supercritical fluids; Thermal degradation; Vacuum distillation; Waxes
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules27051470

is one of the most widely cultivated non-food crops used in the production of essential oil; it is used in perfumery, aromatherapy, pharmaceutical preparations, and food ingredients. In this study, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and molecular distillation (MD) were combined, primarily to enrich scCO extracts with lavender oxygenated monoterpenes, avoiding thermal degradation, hydrolysis, and solvent contamination, and maintaining the natural characteristics of the obtained oils. Molecular distillation was developed for the first time for the extraction of crucial lavender fragrance ingredients, i.e., from two scCO extracts obtained from dry flower stems of lavender cultivated in Poland and Bulgaria. The best results for high-quality distillates were obtained at 85 °C (EVT) and confirmed that linalyl acetate content increased from 51.54 mg/g (initial Bulgarian lavender extract, L-Bg-E) and 89.53 mg/g (initial Polish lavender extract, L-Pl-E) to 118.41 and 185.42 mg/g, respectively, corresponding to increases of 2.3 and 2.1 times in both distillate streams, respectively. The distillates, light oils, and extracts from lavender were also evaluated for their antimicrobial properties by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the broth microdilution method. Generally, Gram-positive bacteria and spp. were more sensitive to all distilled fractions and extracts than (Gram-negative bacteria).