ABSTRACT
Objective: The experiment was designed to reveal the extraction, distribution and influencing factors of volatile components in the extraction process of volatile oil from Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma (ATR). Methods: Volatile oil of ATR was extracted by steam distillation and the extract was collected every 30 min to separate the aromatic water and volatile oil. Results: A total of 56 volatile compounds were determined, of which β-asarone, methyleugenol, cis-methylisoeugenol and γ-asarone were the main characteristic constituents. There were 41 kinds of components distributed only in water, four components only in oil and 11 kinds in both oil and water. Correlation analysis showed that the specific components in water were positively correlated with the dissolution/diffusion of the main components in water, but negatively correlated with the main components in volatile oil. The water solubility of the unique components in water was the highest. The results of radar and PCA showed that the water solubility and boiling point of the specific components in water were very high, the vapor pressure of the common components of oil and water was the highest, and the polar surface areas of the special components in oil were high. Conclusion: Affected by the physical and chemical properties of volatile component, some components specifically distributed in water increased the content of main components in the aromatic water, may resulting in volatile oil extraction process easy to "emulsification", in turn, leading to an important reason for the declining quality of volatile oil.