Simultaneous Distillation-Extraction, Hydrodistillation and Static Headspace Methods for the Analysis of Volatile Secondary Metabolites of Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) Burtt et Smith. from Southeast Brazil

Alpinia zerumbet (Zingiberaceae) is cultivated in several tropical areas. It has a high value all over the world as a spice in culinary preparations and for its medicinal properties. The composition of the essential oil obtained by simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) and hydrodistillation (HD) from fresh leaves of A. zerumbet was analyzed by GC-MS. In both samples the main constituents were terpinen-4-ol, 1,8-cinole, sabinene and gamma-terpinene together with caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide sesquiterpenes. However, individual percentage values of compounds varied between the methods. The components camphene (0.3 %), p-2-mentha-4(8)-diene (1.4 %) and trans-sabinene hydrate (1.0 %) were obtained only by SIDE Static-headspace (S-HS) was for the first time used to analyze the aroma from fresh leaves of A. zerumbet. Sabinene, 1,8 cineole and gamma-terpinene were the main terpenes detected through S-HS. Flower oil was extracted by HD method, and the major components identified were 1,8 cineole (15.5 %), gamma-terpinene (13.1 %) and terpinen-4-ol (42.3 %). There was a predominance of monoterpenes.