Hydrodistillation-headspace solvent microextraction, a new methodfor analysis of the essential oil components of Cassia italic

A new method involving concurrent headspace solvent microextraction combined withcontinuous hydrodistillation (HD-HSME) for the extraction and pre-concentration of theessential oil of Cassia italica into a microdrop is developed [۱,۲]. A microdrop of n-hexadecanecontaining n-heptadecane (as internal standard) extruded from the needle tip of a gaschromatographic syringe was inserted into the headspace above the plant sample. Afterextraction for an optimized time, the microdrop was retracted into the syringe and injecteddirectly into a GC injection port. The effects of the type of extracting solvent, sample mass,microdrop volume and extraction time on HD-HSME efficiency were investigated andoptimized. Using this method, ۱۳ compounds were extracted and identified. Hexanal (۵۴.۲۱ %),(۲E)-Hexenal(۹.۶۰%), a-Pinene(۶.۷۰%), Camphor (۴.۵۴%) and Geranyl acetate (۴.۴۸%) werefound to be the major constituents. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on the useof continuous headspace solvent microextraction coupled with hydrodistillation for investigationof essential oil components.