Objective: To investigate the effects of different processing methods on chemical compositions of essential oil from Aucklandia lappa.
Methods: 4 different methods, frying without additional ingredients (1), stir-heating with bran (2), roasting surrounded with bran (3), and roasting wrapped in wet paper (4) were used to process raw Radix Aucklandiae and the contents and chemical compositions of essential oil were compared in the processed products with those in the raw drug. The essential oils were extracted wtih supercritical CO2 and analyzed by GC-MS.
Results: Except method 1, processing lowered the content of the essential oil in Radix Aucklandiae significantly. 29, 33, 32, 34, and 33 compounds were identified, respectively, in the essential oils from raw Radix Aucklandiae and the processed products of Radix Aucklandia with method 1, 2, 3, and 4. The chemical compositions of essential oil of Radix Aucklandiae changed a lot in processing,some components disappeared, such as alpha-phellandrene; Some came into being, such as alpha-ionone, alpha-caryophyllene, beta-sesquiphellandrene, alpha-longifolene,and so on, some increased in contents,such as elemene, dihydro-a-ionone, beta-caryophyllene, and so on. The contents of costunolide and dehydrocostuslactone in Radix Aucklandiae decreased in processing with method 2, 3, and 4.
Conclusion: As a perfume meterial, Radix Aucklandiae should be processed by roasting surrounded with wheat bran, while as a drug to treat epigastric pain, the raw drug should be processed by stir-heating.