Thymol enrichment from oregano essential oil by molecular distillation

The objectives of this study were to obtain fractions enriched in thymol by molecular distillation of oregano essential oil and to evaluate their antioxidant properties. In addition, this operation was modelled considering the effects of evaporation temperature and feeding flow on thymol concentration in the residue fractions by means of artificial neural networks (ANN). All residue fractions had a higher percentage of thymol than the distillates. The thymol composition in the residue fractions reached values up to 2.4-fold higher than in oregano essential oil. Higher concentrations of thymol produced lower values for IC50 according to DPPH technique, indicating an increase in antioxidant properties. During the storage test, all the residue fractions analysed showed better peroxide, conjugated dienes and conjugated trienes values than distillates and OEO when they were used in sunflower oil samples. The results of storage stability showed that residues and BHT are very good antioxidants. The ANN created demonstrated good predictive ability for the operation of molecular distillation of oregano essential oil.Fil: Borgarello, Ana Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Mezza, Gabriela Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Pramparo, Maria del Carmen. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Gayol, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Tecnología Química; Argentin

Obtention of Rosemary Essential Oil Concentrates by Molecular Distillation and Free Radical Scavenging Capacity Analysis

Rosemary essential oil is used in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. Due to its constituents’ chemical activity, it is also used as antioxidant to preserve foods and as antibacterial and antifungal agents. The most abundant components of rosemary essential oil used in this work are α-pinene, myrcene, 1,8-cineole and camphor, which respond to 1,8-cineole chemotype. Two sets of molecular distillation experience were conducted. Antioxidant power of distillates and residues obtained was quantified, and the residues obtained from molecular distillation have more antioxidant power than distillates and rosemary essential oil. The results of this study show that it is feasible to use molecular distillation operation to obtain concentrates of rosemary essential oil. Residues collected present higher antioxidant power than rosemary essential oil, probably due to the presence of camphor, linalool, linalyl acetate and α-terpineol, which are present in higher proportion in the residues.Fil: Mezza, Gabriela Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Borgarello, Ana Valeria. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Daguero, Jorge D.. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto; ArgentinaFil: Pramparo, Maria del Carmen. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto; Argentin

Antioxidant activity of rosemary essential oil fractions obtained by molecular distillation and their effect on oxidative stability of sunflower oil

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of rosemary essential oil fractions obtained by molecular distillation (MD) and investigate their effect on the oxidative stability of sunflower oil. MD fractions were prepared in a series of low-pressure stages where rosemary essential oil was the first feed. Subsequently, a distillate (D1) and residue (R1) were obtained and the residue fraction from the previous stage used as the feed for the next. The residue fractions had the largest capacity to capture free radicals, and the lowest peroxide values, conjugated dienes and conjugated trienes. The antioxidant activity of the fractions was due to oxygenated monoterpenes, specifically α-terpineol and cis-sabinene hydrate. Oxidative stability results showed the residues (R1 and R4) and butylated hydroxytoluene had greater antioxidant activity than either the distillate fractions or original rosemary essential oil. The residue fractions obtained by short path MD of rosemary essential oil could be used as a natural antioxidants by the food industry.Fil: Mezza, Gabriela Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Borgarello, Ana Valeria. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Grosso, Nelson. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, Hector. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Pramparo, Maria del Carmen. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Gayol, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Tecnología Química; Argentin