Original Contribution TERPENOID CONSTITUENTS' CONCENTRATION OF AFRAMOMUM MELEGUETA USING HYDRODISTILLATION AND SOLVENT METHODS OF EXTRACTION

Terpenoid constituents’ concentration of Aframomum melegueta using hydrodistillation and solvent methods of extraction were carried out using Gas Chromatography ( GC) . Forty seven compounds were detected in each method with α-cardinol(15.75%), cis-calamenen-10-ol(7.76%) βpanasinsene(6.37%) caryophylene oxide (6.85%), α-muurolol (5.70%) and cubenol (5.53%) as major constituents in hydrodistillation method and α-cardinol (21.79%) , α-muurolol (9.56%) , ciscalamenen-10-ol (4.62%), β-panasinsene(4.52%), α-ylangene (3.04%) and γ-cadinene (3.14%) as major terpenoids for solvent extraction method. The result showed that the yield and concentration of compounds obtained depend on extraction method, with solvent extraction having higher yield and higher concentrations of the terpenoids.