High-resolution gas-chromatographic analysis of the secondary metabolites obtained by subcritical-fluid extraction from Colombian rue (Ruta graveolens L.).

Subcritical (CO(2)) extraction, carried out in a J&W Scientific High Pressure Soxhlet Extractor, was used to isolate secondary metabolites from leaves, flowers, stems and roots of Colombian rue (Ruta graveolens L.). The various extracts were analyzed by capillary chromatography, on an HP-5 (30 m) column, using nitrogen-phosphorus, flame ionization, and mass selective detection systems. Kováts indexes and mass spectra (electron impact, 70 eV) were employed for compound identification. The extracts from the various parts of rue studied had different compositions. The number of compounds detected at concentrations above 0.01% (w/w) in the extracts from leaves, flowers, stems and roots, was 78, 45, 25 and 24, respectively. 2-Nonanone (8.9%), 2-undecanone (13.4%), chalepensin (13.0%), and geijerene (19.3%) were the main constituents found in the extracts from rue leaves, flowers, stems and roots, respectively. Furanocoumarins, furoquinolines, hydrocarbons and benzodioxol derivatives were the main compound families found in all extracts, at total concentrations between 3.7 and 33.9%, depending on the part of the plant. The extraction method used has low environmental impact and produced solvent-free extracts in good yield with no pigments, waxes, resins, or high-molecular weight compounds which may interfere with the isolation and analysis of the alkaloids responsible for rue's biological activity, which were extracted in relatively high yield.