ABSTRACT
Objective:To compare the steam distillation( SD) and supercritical CO2 ( SFE-CO2 ) method in the extraction of vola-tile constituents from such 3 traditional Chinese drugs as cnidium monnieri, radix sileris and atractylodes lancea in compound Kuhuang prescription. Methods:Essential oil was extracted from the 3 traditional Chinese drugs by SD and SFE-CO2 method, respectively. The components were identified by GC-MS, and their relative contents were calculated with peak area normalization method. Results:To-tally 36 components were isolated and identified using SD extraction and 31 components were identified using SFE-CO2 extraction, a-mong them, 22 components were the same and their relative molecular weight mainly concentrated within 200-230. Conclusion: SFE-CO2 method can extract effective components from the 3 traditional Chinese drugs in compound Kuhuang prescription with higher selec-tivity, which is the more suitable extraction method for essential oil from the prescription.