Volatile components of Rhizoma Alpiniae Officinarum using three different extraction methods combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Volatile components from Rhizoma Alpiniae Officinarum were respectively extracted by three methods including hydrodistillation, headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and diethyl ether extraction. A total of 40 (hydrodistillation), 32 (HS-SPME) and 37 (diethyl ether extraction) compounds were respectively identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and 22 compounds were overlapped, including α-farnesene, γ-muurolene, 2,6-dimethyl-6-(4-methyl-3-pentenyl)bicyclo[3.1.1]hept-2-ene, eucalyptol and cadina-1(10), 4-diene and so forth, varying in relative contents. HS-SPME is fast, sample saving and solvent-free and it also can achieve similar profiles as those from hydrodistillation and solvent extraction. Therefore, it can be the priority for extracting volatile components from medicinal plants.