Greek Salvia sclarea L. Essential Oils: Effect of Hydrodistillation Time, Comparison of the Aroma Chemicals Using Hydrodistillation and HS-SPME Techniques

Since the essential oil of Salvia sclarea is used as a flavouring agent, the effect of different extraction techniques (hydrodistillation & HS-SPME) and duration of hydrodistillation (2, 3 and 4 h) with respect to yield, composition and identification rate of extracted essential oils from Greek cultivated S. sclarea aerial blooming parts were investigated. Linalool and linalyl acetate levels seemed to decrease with increasing duration of hydrodistillation, while diterpenes increased dramatically, while the head space analysis showed significantly lower levels of linalool in comparison to its ester. Thus, linalool (5.1-35.8%), linalyl acetate (11.3-37.6%) and sclareol (0.0-41.8%), concerning the oils obtained by hydrodistillation, were the most important metabolites. Solid-phase microextraction yielded mainly oxygenated monoterpenes, especially linalyl acetate (59.3%), followed by cis-linalool oxide (8.6%) and linalool (7.8%).