Influence of drying with ultrasound+ethanol pre-treatment on the chemical composition of the essential oil from ripe fruits of S. terebinthifolius

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different drying temperatures associated with ultrasound+ethanol pre-treatment on the chemical composition of the essential oil from ripe fruits of S. terebinthifolius. The experiments were conducted using a Central Composite Design, considering two factors within the following ranges: duration of ultrasound+ethanol pre-treatment from 0 to 12 minutes, drying air temperature from 40 to 80 °C. The essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation, and its constituents were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In the essential oil of S. terebinthifolius, five compounds were identified, accounting for over 80% of the total peak areas from the chromatographic analysis. Applying different pre-treatment times combining ultrasound and ethanol, along with different drying temperatures, resulted in qualitative changes in the chemical composition of the essential oil of S. terebinthifolius. The most satisfactory results were achieved at drying air temperatures of 50 °C and 70 °C, with shorter ultrasound+ethanol pre-treatment times. Additionally, it was observed that longer ultrasound+ethanol pre-treatment times (12 minutes) led to a reduction in the quality of the essential oil of S. terebinthifolius.