ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:To establish the optimal technical condition for the extraction of volatile oil from the volatile herbs of Huoxiang zhengqi prescription with supercritical CO2 fluid(SFE-CO2).METHODS:The technical condition for the extraction of volatile oil from the volatile herbs of Huoxiang zhengqi prescription were optimized using L9(34)orthogonal design table with extraction pressure,the extraction temperature,the pressure and temperature of separator Ⅰ as factors and with the yield of the volatile oil as index.RESULTS:A highest extraction yield of volatile oil from the volatile herbs of Huoxiang zhengqi prescription was achieved(2.057%)under an optimal technical condition as follows:with extraction pressure at 25 MPa,the extraction temperature at 30 ℃,the pressure for separator Ⅰ at 9 MPa and the temperature of separator Ⅰ at 45 ℃.CONCLUSION:Extraction of volatile oil from the volatile herbs of Huoxiang zhengqi prescription by SFE-CO2 is characterized by high extraction yield,stable,pure operation,safe,and by which the biological activity of the volatile oil can be maintained,thus it is a potential extraction and separation method.