COMPOSITION OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF COMMERCIAL SAMPLES OF SALVIA-OFFICINALIS L-FRUTICOSA AND S-FRUTICOSA MILLER - A COMPARISON OF OILS OBTAINED BY EXTRACTION AND STEAM DISTILLATION

The essential oils of commercially available samples of leaves of Salv ia officinalis L. and S, fruticosa MILLER obtained by steam-distillati on and dichloromethane extraction were analysed by gas liquid chromato graphy. Although standardized conditions of sample preparation were em ployed, differences in the composition of the oils were found: steam d istillation yielded a reduced amount of the less volatile compounds, a nd the accuracy of determination was significantly lower than in the c ase of extraction. The commercial samples, which differed considerably in the composition of their essential oils, were quite inhomogeneous in respect to their oil content partly due to the different ages of th e leaves. Extraction of individual leaves of S. officinalis showed a d ecrease in the alpha-thujone content, with a corresponding increase in the relative amount of camphor, related to leaf age. Owing to the obs erved variability of the essential oil composition of S, officinalis, the relative contents of alpha-thujone, beta-thujone and camphor have to be totalled in order to form a significant parameter for the charac terization of Salvia species. This parameter varies between 45 and 68% in S. officinalis and between 4.8 and 15.9% in S. fruticosa with a sm all standard deviation. Consideration of this parameter together with the amount of 1,8-cineole (S officinalis-2.8 to 23%; S. fruticosa-55 t o 75%) permits the differentiation between these species and respectiv e mixtures.