Extraction and isolation of Pistacia lentiscus L. essential oil by supercritical CO₂

Supercritical CO 2 extraction coupled to a fractional separation technique (SFE) was used to isolate essential oil from the leaves and berries of Pistacia lentiscus L. The technique adopted allowed us to separate the volatile oil from waxes. In the case of the leaf essential oil, the yield was 0.45% by weight of the charged material. The chemical composition of the oil, determined by GC–MS analysis, revealed the presence of β‐caryophyllene (31.38%), germacrene D (12.05%) and γ‐cadinene (6.48%). Remarkable differences were noticed in the corresponding hydrodistilled oil, composed chiefly by β‐pinene (18.71%), β‐phellandrene (12.83%) and β‐caryophyllene (13.22%). The yield of volatile oil obtained or treating Pistacia lentiscus berries was only 0.2%. β‐myrcene, α‐pinene and α‐phellandrene are the compounds characteristic of the oil obtained with both methods, SFE and hydrodistillation.