Production of rose absolute from rose concrete

Rose absolute was produced from rose concrete at two temperatures (-25degreesC, -20degreesC) using two concentrations (96%, 80%) of ethanol as solvent. Chemical composition of the absolute was determined by GC and GC-MS and then some properties of it such as refractive index and density were examined. It was found that the absolute mainly consists of phenylethyl alcohol, citronellol, geraniol, nerol, 1-nonadecene, methyl eugenol, eugenol, nonadecane, benzyl alcohol. The amounts of these compounds were found to depend largely upon the conditions of production of absolute and the concentration of the ethanol used. The yields of absolute were found to be in the range of 58-64%. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.