Revista de Chimie, cilt.69, sa.8, ss.2240-2244, 2018 (SCI-Expanded)
Lavandula angustifolia which belong to Lamiaceae family with origins in the Mediterranean regionis one of the most important species of Lavandula. The most common method for obtaining the essential oil of lavender is described in the literature is steam hydrodistillation using a Neo-Clevenger, official method described in the European Pharmacopoeia. Another method described in the literature for obtaining oil of lavender is the extraction using microwave. The aim of this study was to obtain lavender essential oils bythese two different methods: classical hydrodistillation using Neo-Clevenger apparatus and microwave- assisted extraction. The yield of extraction was different for the two of methods 0.124 % for classical hydrodistillation and 0.6 % for microwave - assisted extraction. In order to establish and compare the chemical composition of lavender essential oils we used a gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In the classical hydrodistillation method 44 components with 99.20% yield and in microwave extraction, 46 components with 99.33% yields have been identified. The main compound of essential oil obtained was Linalool. But the other secondary main components are totally different. Even if the obtainedyield for lavender essential oil was bigger in the case of classical hydrodistillation, taking into account the time of extraction was lower for the oil obtained by microwave, it is recommended to continue with this modern method.