PROFILING OF COMPOUNDS IN HYDROSOL EXTRACT OF AQUILARIA (AGARWOOD) SPECIES USING GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY (GCMS)

Most researches involving agarwood mainly focused on extracting the agarwood oil from the infiltrated resin, the most sought non-timber forest product from Aquilaria species with high demand and prices. This led to other parts of this valuable plant species being considered as waste. This include the agarwood hydrosol (byproduct of water distillation). Hydrosol has been reported to retain certain aromatics of its primary essential oil. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to identify the composition of the agarwood hydrosol extracts from Aquilaria species by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). From the analysis, there were a total of 46, 48, 40, 53, 58 and 62 compounds detected in hydrosol extract samples of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Accordingly, the oxygenated and phenolic compounds were found to be present in all hydrosol extract samples. The detected phenolic compounds include Phenol, 2,5-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl)-,.Phenol, 2,4-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl)- and 9-Octadecenoic acid (Z)-, methyl ester. These compounds are believed to possess various potential biological activities including antioxidant activities. Sample 1 and 2 consist of sesquiterpene compounds such as (-)-Aristolene, Naphthalene, decahydro-4a-methyl-1-methylene-7-(1-methylethylidene)-,(4aR-trans)-,Azulene,1,2,3,3a,4,5,6,7-octahydro-1,4-dimethyl-7-(1-methylethenyl)-,[1R-(1.alpha.,3a.beta.,4.alpha.,7.beta.)]- and alloaromadendrene where the later had the highest number of oxygenated and antioxidant compounds. In conclusion, results from this study suggests that agarwood hydrosol possesses myriad of compounds that warrant further investigation based on their potential medicinal benefits. This in turn could help realize the waste to wealth paradigm as well as promote the material as sustainable source for development of halal therapeutics.