The effect of hydrodistillation techniques on yield, kinetics, composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils from flowers of Lavandula officinalis L.

Abstract

The essential oils from flowers of Lavandula officinalis L. (L. officinalis L. = L. angustifolia Mill.) were obtained by two hydrodistillation techniques: standard (technique I) and modified (technique II) Clevenger hydrodistillation. The yield, hydrodistillation kinetics, composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils were investigated. The higher yield of oil was obtained by hydrodistillation technique II. The new analytical hydrodistillation kinetics model of essential oil from Lavandulae flowers was defined. The essential oil composition was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). There are differences in chemical compositions of the oils obtained by different techniques. Antimicrobial activity of essential oil obtained by technique I and II against Salmonella enteritidis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger is the same, while the activity against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is slightly different.

Keywords

• Lavandula officinalis L.
• essential oils
• hydrodistillation techniques
• hydrodistillation kinetics
• GC-MS
• antimicrobial activity