Differential Extraction and GC-MS based Quantification of Sesquiterpenoids from Immature Heartwood of East Indian Sandalwood Tree

Abstract

The East Indian sandalwood tree yields the costliest heartwood and essential oil that are used in traditional medicine, aromatherapy and in cosmetic and fragrance industries. Steam distillation is the traditional method employed for extraction of the sesquiterpenoid rich essential oil from chips of matured heartwood. However, there is no information available on the comparative extractability of sesquiterpenoids when different solvents are employed. Thus we used four different solvents to extract, detect and quantify fourteen major sesquiterpenoids from immature heartwood, by gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC- MS) method employing an ion trap quadruple (ITQ) mass analyzer. Results suggest that, with increasing solvent polarity the diversity of sesquiterpenoids decreased, but the quantities of santalols increased. Moreover, n-hexane remained the best extraction solvent for santalols, i.e., yielding up to 92.6 % of total sesquiterpenoids quantified. Furthermore, Z-?-trans-bergamotol, Z-epi-?-santalol and Z-?-santalols were found to be the most abundant constituents of immature heartwood.

Keywords: GC-MS, heartwood, Santalum album, sesquiterpenoid, solvent