10.57647/tpr.2025.0904.19

Chemical composition of the essential oils and volatilefractions from the aerial parts of Crocus sativus L.(Iridaceae) using microwave assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) and headspace solid phase microextraction(HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography-massspectrometric (GC-MS) analysis

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  • Majid Mohammadhosseini*1,2,
  1. Herbal Drugs Raw Materials Research Center (HDRMRC), Sha.C., Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran
  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Sha.C., Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran

Received: 2025-08-02

Revised: 2025-11-27

Accepted: 2025-12-05

Published in Issue 2025-12-31

Copyright (c) 2026 Majid Mohammadhosseini (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Mohammadhosseini, M. (2025). Chemical composition of the essential oils and volatilefractions from the aerial parts of Crocus sativus L.(Iridaceae) using microwave assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) and headspace solid phase microextraction(HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography-massspectrometric (GC-MS) analysis. Trends in Phytochemical Research, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.57647/tpr.2025.0904.19
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Abstract

In this report, chemical composition of the essential oils and volatile fractions from the aerial parts of Crocus sativus L. (Iridaceae) was investigated using microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis on DB-5 and HP-5MS columns. Twenty constituents were identified by matching their mass spectra, retention indices, and co-injection with reference standards. In the MAHD-derived essential oil, seventeen compounds accounted for 97.3% of the total composition, with safranal (37.2%) as the major component, followed by 4-ketoisophorone (11.2%), hexadecane (9.1%), hexadecanoic acid (8.1%), tetradecanoic acid (7.5%), nonacosane (6.2%), and n-eicosane (5.1%). The HS-SPME volatile fraction exhibited a higher safranal content (63.5%), accompanied by hexadecanoic acid (10.2%), ethyl hexadecanoate (6.7%), tetradecanoic acid (5.7%), and isophorone (3.0%). These findings reveal pronounced method-dependent variations in the volatile profiles, underscoring the dominance of safranal and highlighting the potential of saffron aerial parts as an alternative source of valuable aroma compounds.

Keywords

  • Crocus sativus L.,
  • Iridaceae; Microwave Assisted Hydrodistillation (MAHD),
  • Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME),
  • Volatile fractions,
  • Safranal (2,6,6-Trimethyl-1,3-cyclohexadien-l-carboxaldehyde)
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