Non-polar Solvent Microwave-assisted Extraction of Volatile Constituents from Dried Foeniculum vulgare Mill.

A new method, non-polar solvent microwave-assisted extraction (NPSMAE)，was applied to extraction of essential oils from Foeniculum vulgare Mill.. By adding microwave absorption medium (carbonyl iron powders) into extraction system, the non-polar solvent (ether) was heated by CIP and the essential oil was obtained at high pressure. The constituents of essential oil obtained by NPSMAE was compared with that obtained by hydrodistillation (HD) by GC/MS analysis. The main volatile constituents in extracts obtained by different methods were similar, which indicated that NPSMAE was a feasible way to extract essential oil from dried plant materials. The NPSMAE took much less extraction time (5 min) than HD (180 min).