m.t. ebadi

Despite of Iran's position as one of the leading countries in the production of spearmint (Mentha spicata L.), the extraction of spearmint essential oil (SEO) and its use in food and pharmaceutical industries are faced with challenges such as non-uniformity of product and low amount of two valuable compounds of carvone and limonene. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of obtaining SEO with more than 75% carvone, as well as designing and simulating the extraction process with high economic efficiency. After determining the components ofthe raw SEO and modelling the standardized SEO, the characteristics of the batch fractional distillation tower and the equipment required for the operation were modelled, and dynamic operations were simulated. The operational design of the process was performed based on the processed simulator (Aspen PLUS V.10), and its performance was analyzed. During the simulation, from 40 Kg of input feed with about 50% carvone, 18.2 Kg of standardized SEO with more than 75% carvone can be obtained. According to the results, the optimum condenser temperature and return flow to achieve maximum purity in the shortest time for the low weight compounds were 25-30°C and 3.1 ratios. The increasing temperature of the column tower caused increasing the amount of carvone in the pot and the amount of limonene in the receiver. However, the excessive temperature had an adverse effect on the output product; it reduced the amount of limonene in the receiver and increased undesirable components. Finally, the results obtained in this research can be a guide for researchers and industries to produce SEO with the desired characteristics and be helpful in designing pilot and industrial systems for essential oil extraction and standardization of other medicinal and aromatic plants.

Dorema ammoniacum D. Don. is a perennial medicinal plant from Apiaceae family. There is some evidence in Iranian traditional medicine about the anticonvulsant and anthelmintic properties of D. ammoniacum gum resin exudating from its root and stem. In this study, D. ammoniacum was collected from southwestern part of Iran and their Essential Oils (EOs) content and compositions were investigated by gas chromatography techniques. The EO yield of D. ammoniacum root, stem, leaves, flower and gum were 0.4, 0.2, 0.24, 0.46, and 1.0 v/w%, respectively. Although there were some variations among different organs EOs, some similarities could be easily observed. The major compounds in the gum EO were (2E, 6E)-farnesol (12.2%), cuparene (11.5%), (2Z,6Z)-farnesol (8.7%), β-bisabolene (6.1%). The root oil had thymol (14.7%), heptacosane (12.8%), tridecanol (12.7%) and 4-methylene-5-hexenal (6.8 %) as the major compounds. Endo-Fenchyl acetate (13.1%), elemicin (10.5%), p-cymen-8-ol (6.8%) and thymol (5.6%) were identified in the stem oil. The major constituents of the leaves oil were n-hexadecanol (9.1%), cuparene (8.2%), Di-n-butyl phthalate (6.6%), n-eicosane (6.6%), bicyclogermacrene (5.4%) and β-bisabolene (5.2%). The major compounds in flower oil were tridecanol (13.2%), δ-elemene (11.2%), n-eicosane (8.2%), and heptadecanoic acid (7.8%). According to different applications, nine different extracts were also prepared from all organs and their Antioxidant Activity (AA), Total Phenol Content (TPC) and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) were evaluated. Analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference among all extracts of D. ammoniacum in AA, TPC and TFC (P≤ 0.01). Results showed that the highest radical scavenging activity was observed in M2F (second Methanolic extract of Flower) and M2L (second Methanolic extract of Leaves) samples with IC50 of 40.3 μg mL-1 and 43.6 μg mL-1 compared to BHT (26.0 μg mL-1). The highest TPC in M2F and M2R (second Methanolic extract of Root) samples were 36.4 and 35.7 mg GAE g-1 DW of extracts, respectively. The highest TFC belonged to M2L with 26.4 mg QE g-1 DW of extract. Results also showed that D. ammoniacum organs extracts contained moderate to high amounts of AA and TPC.

To evaluate the effect of infrared drying on color parameters, essential oil content and composition of German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.), three different infrared intensities (125, 132, and 220 W) with three airflow velocities (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m.s-1) on a total of nine treatments were examined in a completely randomized design, and the shade-dried plants were considered as a control treatment. The results indicated that the treatments had significant effects on drying time, color parameters, and essential oil content. The control (shade drying) and the 220 W radiation intensity with 0.5 m.s-1 air velocity treatments had the highest (2367 min) and lowest (83 min) drying time, respectively. With increasing infrared intensity, the main color parameters such as L, a, b, ΔE (total color changes) and BI (browning index) changed significantly, compared to the control; however, increasing the airflow rate caused less variation of the mentioned parameters in all levels of infrared radiation intensity than the control. The highest essential oil content (0.23% w/w) was obtained at 125 W radiation intensity with 0.5 m.s-1 air velocity and the lowest (0.12% w/w) was observed at the 220 W radiation intensity with 0.5 and 1 m.s-1 air velocity treatments. Essential oil analysis showed that the highest amount of α-bisabolol-oxide A (60.6%), (Z)-spiroether (16.5%), and chamazulene (4.6%) belonged to 132 W radiation intensity with 0.5 m.s-1 air velocity, 220 W radiation intensity with 0.5 m.s-1 air velocity, and control treatments, respectively. In general, the results of this experiment showed that due to the decreased duration of drying time, color preservation and desired essential oil content and composition, the 125 W radiation intensity with 0.5 m.s-1 air velocity treatment could be a suitable method for chamomile flowers drying.

Ensuring the healthy and sustainable production of agricultural products, esp. medicinal plants, while preserving the environment, is an important issue that is becoming increasingly important every day. To investigate the effect of seaweed fertilizer foliar application on growth characteristics and quantitative and qualitative yield of hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.), an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with four treatments of seaweed fertilizer (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 ml.l-1) and three replications in the research farm of faculty of agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran province, Iran in 2017. Measured traits included plant height, leaf area, stem diameter, top flowering branch length, fresh and dry weight of the plant, chlorophyll content index, yield, essential oil content, and composition. The results showed that seaweed fertilizer had a significant effect on all studied traits except top flowering branch length and stem diameter, and the highest plant height (49.66 cm), fresh and dry weight of the plant (103.22 and 22.89 g, respectively), leaf area (0.77 cm2) and chlorophyll content (61.83) were obtained in 10 ml.l-1 seaweed fertilizer treatment without significant difference from 5 ml.l-1 treatment. Also, the 10 ml.l-1 treatment caused the highest percentage and yield of essential oil (0.58% and 2.12 g.m-2). Essential oil analysis showed that β-pinene, trans-pinocamphone, and cis-pinocamphone were the main compounds of essential oil in all treatments. The highest content of β-pinene (32.8%), cis-pinocamphone (42.5%), and trans-pinocamphone (19.6%) was observed in 5, 2.5 and 10 ml.l-1 seaweed fertilizer treatments, respectively, without significant difference from control treatment. Based on the results of this study, the application of seaweed fertilizer can improve the growth characteristics and quantitative and qualitative yield of hyssop.

In this study, Eryngium thyrsoideum Boiss. was collected from three regions Razjerd (Rz) (Qazvin province), Salavatabad (Sv) (Sanandaj, Kurdistan province), and Paygelan (Py) (Marivan, Kurdistan province) at 1700, 1780, and 1840 m above the sea level, respectively, and their volatile components were evaluated. The shade-dried plant materials were hydrodistillated by Clevenger-type apparatus for three hours. The analysis of essential oils composition was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and quantified by GC-FID. The essential oil content was obtained 0.06, 0.05, and 0.07% (w/w) for Rz, Py and Sv, respectively. The main components of essential oils were 2,3,6-trimethyl benzaldehyde (18.6, 11.5 and 34.0%), 2,4,6-trimethyl benzaldehyde (3.0, 1.0 and 4.1%), germacrene D (2.5, 12.6 and 6.0%), ethyl linoleate (7.6, 8.7 and 5.1%), sesquicineole (0.3, 5.8 and 3.0%), and trans-caryophyllene (5.6, 2.5 and 1.9%) (the numbers in parentheses for Rz, Py and Sv, respectively). In this regard, the water-soluble volatile components of these plants, as distilled water components obtained from the Clevenger side part, were also extracted and finally separated using ethyl acetate solvent and analyzed similarly to essential oil compounds. The amount of these components, as the organic fraction (Of) of distilled water, was 0.017, 0.02, and 0.04 gram per 100 ml of distilled water in Rz, Py, and Sv samples, respectively. The main identified components of these fractions were, 2,3,6-trimethyl-benzaldehyde (69.8, 54.5 and 58.6%), p-vinyl-guaiacol (12.0, 26.7 and 24.7%), 2,4,6-trimethyl-benzaldehyde (9.7, 5.8 and 4.4%), and trans-anethole (4.0, 4.1 and 5.0%) for OfRz, OfPy, and OfSv, respectively. Although E. thyrsoideum does not have a high essential oil percentage, it has a wide range of components. This species has a high content of trimethyl-benzaldehye family compounds. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of volatile components of E. thyrsoideum.

In this study, the effect of microwave drying method (at five power levels: 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 watts) on drying time, color change, amount of organic acids and vitamin C of sumac fruit (Rhus coriaria L.) was investigated. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications and the response surface methodology (RSM) was used to find the optimum points for the minimum drying time and color changes or the maximum organic acids and vitamin C during drying. The results showed that microwave drying had significant effect on the color, the amount of organic acids and vitamin C at 5% probability level but it had significant effect on drying time at 1% probability level. Among the different microwave powers, the highest and lowest organic acids were obtained at 1000 and 600 watts with values of 1.46 and 1.11 mg/100 g, respectively, and the highest and lowest vitamin C was obtained at 600 and 1000 watts with values of 0.40 and 0.26 mg/100g, respectively. The best situation for microwave drying (with the lowest drying time and color variations and the maximum phytochemicals) was obtained at 815 watts. Finally, the lowest color changes and the highest amount of organic acids and vitamin C were observed in the shade drying method.