EXTRACTING VOLATILE COMPOUNDS FROM SINGLE PLANTS USING SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID EXTRACTION

Analysis of plant volatile compounds typically requires large amounts of plant tissue, thus preventing sampling from specific morphological regions of individual plants. We used supercritical fluid extraction ( SFE), with CO2 as the solvent, to extract plant volatiles from 1.5 g o f fresh alfalfa germplasm tissue (Medicago sativa L. and M. glandulosa David). More than 100 volatile and semi-volatile compounds were detec ted by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GS-MS); most of the these (>80) were in sufficient quantity for accurate spectral analysis. SFE is an efficient microextraction technique for volatile compounds cont ained within single plants.