Extraction of Corymbia citriodora essential oil and resin using near and supercritical carbon dioxide

• Near and supercritical CO2 sequential and selective extraction of essential oil and resin from C. citriodora leaves.
• Comparative study of volatile composition of essential oil extracted by different methods using two raw materials.
• Evaluation of antioxidant activities of essential oil and resin using two different methods.
• Quantification of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in the resin from C. citriodora leaves.

Corymbia citriodora essential oils (EO) from the two major distilleries of Brazil were compared with those obtained by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using CO2. Resin extracts (R) from the leaves exhibiting bioactivity were also obtained in a sequential and selective extraction process. Chemical composition analysis of the EOs obtained by steam distillation (SD), hydro distillation (HD) and CO2 extraction of C. citriodora leaves from São Paulo showed higher Citronellal Content (CC) compared to those from Minas Gerais region. Also, SFE provided the highest quality of extracts and higher citronellal content compared to the more conventional SD and HD methods. In addition, this single process was based on two steps to obtain two different products. Near-critical CO2 was used for extraction of essential oils, since these conditions promote the volatiles extraction. When exhausted the essential oil, the same leaves into the extractor was subjected to supercritical CO2 conditions and a new product was obtained, the resin. In this process it was possible to obtain high quality EO and R with high antioxidant potential.

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