Variation in the volatile oil composition of Eucalyptus citriodora produced by hydrodistillation and supercritical fluid extraction techniques

This work reports variations in the yields and quality of volatiles produced from Eucalyptus citriodora leaves by different hydrodistillation (HD) and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SCE) techniques. HD techniques (1.5%) produced higher yields compared to SCE (0.7%). Citronellal, the major component, was maximum in the extract produced by SCE (79%) followed by oil produced by water-steam distillation (WSD) (72.6%) and water distillation (WD) (62.4%) techniques. Chemical composition of glycoside-bound volatiles produced by acid hydrolysis during HD was found to be very different from free volatiles, although in a minor quantity. The extent of artefact formation and release of aglycones was more profound in the bound volatile oil produced by WD than WSD. Highest oxygenated monoterpenes were found in SCE and WSD (93% each) followed by WD (91.4%). Although the SCE produced lower yields than the HD techniques, its extract is superior in quality in terms of higher concentration of citronellal.