Identification of volatile compounds contained in the therapeutic essential oils from Pogostemon cablin, Melaleuca leucadendra, and Mentha piperita and their purified fractions

Pogostemon cablin, Melaleuca leucadendra, and Mentha piperita are three aromatic plants that have been reported to produce a high yield of volatile components with medicinal and therapeutic properties. This present study aimed to perform qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis on the volatile components present in the aforementioned aromatic plants. Essential oils from P. cablin and M. leucadendra were obtained from community-based enterprises in Aceh Province, Indonesia. The essential oils were further purified using vacuum rotary evaporator. In addition, we also investigated the essential oils from M. piperita based on the priorly optimized parameters. The volatile components contained in the essential oils were identified using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The qualitative data were derived from the MS data based on the fragmented components separated by the GC and compared with the database. The abundance of each volatile component was determined based on the area percentage of the chromatographic peak. In P. cablin oil, the relative abundance of α-guaiene and seychellene was higher in heavy fraction (17.11 and 10.29, respectively), while patchouli alcohol in light fraction (69.92%). Eucalyptol was found higher in the light fraction of M. leucadendra oil (MO) than that in the heavy fraction (78.87% vs. 17.34%, respectively). As for the M. piperita oil, menthone was found as the predominant component with relative abundance of 21.6%. Essential oils extracted from P. cablin, M. leucadendra, and M. piperita consist of volatile components with medicinal and therapeutic potentials, in which their compositions are affected by the purification process.