EXTRACTION OF VOLATILE COMPOUNDS FROM CONIFEROUS WOODS WITH SUPERCRITICAL CARBON-DIOXIDE

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with carbon dioxide and hot-water distillation were conducted using the woods of Chamaecyparis obtusa E ndl. (hinoki), Thujopsis dolabrata var. handai Makino (hinokiasunaro), Chamaecyparis nootkatensis Spach (Alaska cedar), Thuja plicata D. Don . (western redcedar), Pinus densiflora S. et Z. (akamatsu), Pseudotsug a menziesii France (Douglas-fir), and Cryptomeria japonica D. Don (sug i). The yields by SFE for 30 minutes were more than those by hot-water distillation for eight hours, except for Alaska cedar. The yields at 300 kgf/cm(2) were about twice as high as those at 100 kgf/cm(2), and as extraction time increases, the yield increaces. The components of S FE extracts and essential oils by hot-water distillations were identif icated by gas liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectr ometry. The composition of the SFE extracts from the four species; nam ely hinoki, sugi, akamatsu, and hinokiasunaro were similar to those of the essential oils by hot-water distillations qualitatively. Although the contents of high-molecular-weight compounds and terpene hydrocarb ons were a little larger in SFE extracts than in essential oils by hot -water distillations. Western redcedar and Douglas-fir woods were extr acted selectively by SFE, and the compositions of SFE extracts were qu ite different from the essential oils by hot-water distillations.