Isolation of Moroccan Ammi visnaga oil: Comparison between Hydrodistillation, Steam Distillation and Supercritical Fluid Extraction

Abstract The air-dried aerial ambles of Ammi visnaga were collected from Souk larbaa region situated in north of Morocco. The plant samples were subjected to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus and to Supercritical Fluid Extraction using CO2. The oils obtained were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The variations in chemical composition are important between the two techniques of extraction. A total of 37 constituents were identified. Using supercritical fluid, the main components were geranyl linalool (22.7%), visnagin (6.1%) and khellin (6.1%). In addition, fourteen constituents were found in the supercritical fluid extract and have not been identified in the oil obtained using hydrodistillation.