Identification and quantification of the volatile constituents in Cnidium monnieri using supercritical fluid extraction followed by GC-MS.

The volatile components of Cnidium monnieri were obtained by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and analyzed by GC-MS (identification and determination of metabolites). The compounds were identified according to their retention times and mass spectra. The effects of different parameters, such as extraction pressure, temperature, dynamic extraction time, flow rate of CO(2), on the SFE of C. monnieri extracts were investigated. A total of 14 compounds of SFE extracts were identified. Osthole (69.52%), bornyl acetate (10.03%), alpha-pinene (4.71%), and imperatorin (2.42%) were the major compounds identified in C. monnieri SFE extracts. The quantitation of osthole and imperatorin were then accomplished. The linear calibration ranges were all 5-1000 microg/mL for osthole and imperatorin by GC-MS analysis. The recovery of osthole and imperatorin were in the range 96.5-101.8%. The LODs for osthole and imperatorin were 1.0 and 0.6 microg/mL, respectively.