EXTRACTION AND YIELD PROFILING OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM HEDYCHIUM SPICATUM, ELETTARIA CARDAMOMUM AND OCIMUM SANCTUM WITH ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Essential oils are volatile, aromatic compounds derived from medicinal plants and valued in both Ayurveda and modern medicine for their diverse pharmacological activities. Hedychium spicatum (Shati), Elettaria cardamomum (Ela), and Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi) are classical Ayurvedic herbs mentioned under the Swasahara Mahakashaya group in the Charaka Samhita, traditionally prescribed for respiratory ailments. The present study aimed to extract and compare the essential oil yields from these botanicals, providing a preliminary scientific basis for evaluating their ethnopharmacological relevance. Dried, powdered samples (40 g each) of H. spicatum, E. cardamomum, and O. sanctum were subjected to hydro-distillation using a Clevenger apparatus with 400 mL distilled water for 4–6 hours. The extracted oils were separated with n-hexane, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and stored at 4 °C for further analysis. The yields obtained were 0.34 g (0.85%) for H. spicatum, 1.46 g (3.65%) for E. cardamomum, and 0.38 g (0.95%) for O. sanctum, with E. cardamomum demonstrating the highest yield among the three. The study confirms the effectiveness of hydro-distillation for isolating essential oils from Ayurvedic botanicals. This establishes a comparative yield profile that can serve as a foundation for future phytochemical and pharmacological investigations.