Influence of Distillation time on the Essential Oil yield and Eugenol Content in Ocimum sanctum L (CIM-Ayu)

Abstract

Ocimum sanctum L, commonly known as Holy basil, is a biennial or triennial shrub described as a sacred medicinal plant in ancient Hindu literature. The essential oil from the areal part of O. sanctum, variety CIM-Ayu, possess significant biological activates due to the presence of a major volatile fragrant compound Eugenol. Eugenol is wieldy used in the manufacture of several pharmaceutical drugs. To show the influence of distillation time (DT) on the yield of essential oil and its Eugenol content, four different hydro-distillation experiments were conducted with 30 min. of varying time durations i.e., 0-30min, 0-60min, 0-90min and 0-120min respectively. The yield of essential oil was observed highest (0.16%) in the 0-30 min. experiment whereas, Eugenol was found to be highest in 0-60 min DT (66.348%). The second major component Beta Caryophyllene showed a decreasing trend (14.777 to 13.773%) from first to last experiment. From the above, it infers that the enriched Eugenol fraction can be collected in first one hour of distillation.