Agarwood is a traditional and precious medicinal material and natural spice in China and other southeast Asian countries.As the head of all spices,agarwood has many pharmacological activities such as analgesia,antidiarrheal,anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. Due to its high price and scarce resources,there were just a few previous studies on it,mainly focusing on the chemical compositions of the agarwood essential oil and solvent extract mixture. The components of agarwood oils obtained by supercritical extraction and steam distillation were analyzed by using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer( GC-MS),and then the agarwood oils compositions and contents were compared between the traditional extraction method and the recently emerging supercritical extraction method. Antioxidant experiments of scavenging DPPH,ABTS,hydroxyl radical,total reducing power and MIC experiments of five kinds of tester strains such as staphylococcus aureus were combined to illustrate the differences between these two kinds of agarwood oils in terms of antioxidant and bacteriostatic activities. The results showed that the main components of agarwood oil were sesquiterpenoids( 68. 68%) in steam distillation extraction method,but sesquiterpenoids( 23. 78%) and chromones( 29. 42%) in supercritical extraction method. Fourteen common components included benzyl acetone,α-santalol,γ-eudesmol,agarospirol and guaiol etc. The antioxidant activity and inhibitory MIC of agarwood oils in supercritical extraction method were better than those in steam distillation method,and the inhibitory effect of agarwood oil on the growth of bacillus subtilis was found for the first time.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology* ; Antioxidants/pharmacology* ; China ; Distillation/methods* ; Oils, Volatile/pharmacology* ; Plant Oils/pharmacology* ; Steam ; Thymelaeaceae/chemistry* ; Wood/chemistry*

To improve the oil yield of Chuanxiong volatile oils and keep their quality same as that of oils prepared by steam distillation (SD) for short), a new technology of coupling water extraction and rectification (WER for short) was applied to isolate Chuanxiong volatile oils. The oil yield, as well as GC-MS chromatogram of the volatile oils extracted by WER and SD were compared. The oil yield of WER (0.50%) was that of SD (0.20%). There were 21 common constituents in the two kinds of volatile oils, which occupied 98.94% of the oils extracted by SD, 98.80% of that by WER, respectively. Moreover, the relative percentage of the common constituents was almost the same. The results indicate that WER could not only increase the oil yield of Ligusticum chuanxiong, but also keep the quality of the oils accord with that extracted by SD.
Distillation ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; Ligusticum ; chemistry ; Oils, Volatile ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; Plant Oils ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; Water ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo research the preparation technology and dissolution of Blumea volatile oil suppository.

METHODIn order to establish the content determination and methodology inspection method of Blumea volatile oil plug, the extraction process of Blumea volatile oil was optimized by using orthogonal test. Optimization on the investigation to the suppository matrix by melting time, appearance and dissolution was carried on. The best prescription craft was determined by determining the best molding temperature, dosage of the matrix and complementary makings. The determination method of dissolution was established by investigating different dissolution method and its impact on the preparation of dissolution.

RESULTThe best conditions of steam distillation extracted Blumea volatile oil was as followed, the ratio of gardenia to liquor 1:6, 2.5% drug amount of sodium, 8 hours of extracting time. The optimum temperature for mold was 60-65 degrees C. Preparation technique of Blumea volatile oil suppository was stable, which after 45 minutes and 3 h in pH 4.5 PBS released at least 70% and 90%.

CONCLUSIONBlumea volatile oil suppository with rational prescription, simple preparation and good stability.

Asteraceae ; chemistry ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Distillation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plant Oils ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Solubility ; Temperature

Smoke water and distillation liquid were used to treat the seeds of Trichosathes kirilowii and to study the effects of smoke water and distillation liquid on the seed germination and seedling growth of T. kirilowii. The results showed that germination rate, germination index and germination vigor of T. kirilowii all were significantly improved with the treatment of SW and DL treatment. The activity of α-amylase were significantly increased with the treatment of SW and DL at 1:2,000. SW and DL treatment showed no significant effects on the activity of SOD. The activity of POD were markedly enhanced under the treatment of SW (1:000) and DL (1:2,000). CAT activity were increased with the treatment of SW and DL at 1:2,000 while were inhibited by SW and DL at 1:500. Seedling height and root length were increased with the treatment of SW and DL (1:1,000, 1:2,000). SW and DL treaments improved the content of chlorophyll, and moreover with the concentration of SW and DL, the stimulatory were also increased. This work demonstrated that smoke water and diatillation liquid at 1:2,000 could stimulate the seed germination and seedling growth of T. kirilowii, and it provided the references for the study of seed germination technology.
Agriculture ; instrumentation ; methods ; Distillation ; Germination ; Seedlings ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Seeds ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Smoke ; analysis ; Trichosanthes ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Water ; chemistry ; metabolism