Hydrodistillation Kinetic Investigation of Essential Oil from the Tunisian Cupressus sempervirens L

Abstract The volatiles from Cupressus sempervirens branches were analyzed by GC/MS and GC-FID. A part of this work concerns the extraction time influence on the yield and showed that ninety-four percent (94%) of the total oil was recoverd during the three first hours. The extraction kinetic of most of components has been also investigated. This study showed the presence of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and phenolic compounds representing 74.93%, 15.1%, 6.42% and 1.18% of the total oil, respectively. The main components found were monoterpene hydrocarbons (α-pinene, δ-3-carene, limonene) present in all the collected fractions with an increased percentage during extraction process. A remarkable fluctuation of the sesquiterpene distribution during extraction was noted, whereas the highest amount of diterpene components detected between 0 and 30 minutes.