Abstract: Patchouli essential oil consists of over 24 different components. Patchoulol has been known for over a century as the most important component of this essential oil, being widely used in the perfumery and cosmetics industries. Recent research has demonstrated that another component of patchouli essential oil, α-bulnesene, has pharmaceutical properties, providing a decrease in thromboxane formation. In this study, three different membranes were evaluated in terms of their fractionation capability and retention of patchouli oil in supercritical media, aiming at the separation and concentration of the main oil components (patchoulol and α-bulnesene) and regeneration of CO2. The membranes tested showed good resistance under the experimental conditions used, but did not show good fractionation and concentration of the patchouli oil components. The reverse osmosis membrane gave the highest oil retention (0.95) and lowest reduction in the permeate flux of the CO2 in the presence of the essential oil.

Abstract: In Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth essential oil, patchoulol and pogostone are the two major bioactive phytochemicals while their in vivo biosynthesis remains largely unknown In this study, seven genes of the plastidic methylerythritol 4-phosphate pathway (MEP) and three genes of the cytoplasmic mevalonate pathway (MVA) in two cultivars, HN and YN, were isolated Gene expression and phytochemical profiles across leaves and stems at different developmental stages of the two cultivars were evaluated using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively Hierarchical analysis showed that the expression of MVA- and MEP-related genes was clustered similarly in the two cultivars Phytochemical assay revealed that the contents of patchoulol in leaves and pogostone in stems were regulated in an aging-dependent manner Pogostone was only detected in stems but not in leaves of the two cultivars The Pearson correlation analysis suggested that several genes were presumably involved in the biosynthesis of patchoulol and pogostone In the YN cultivar, the 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase and isopentenyl pyrophosphate isomerase 2 genes, and 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase were positively responsible for patchoulol and pogostone biosynthesis, respectively In the HN cultivar, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase and mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase, and mevalonate kinase expression were positively associated with pogostone and patchoulol biosynthesis, respectively The genes identified in this study are good candidates for the enhancement of patchoulol content in the leaves or pogostone content in the stems of P cablin Taken together, our results lay a solid foundation for better understanding of the mechanism underlying patchoulol and pogostone biosynthesis, which in turn may help to improve their content in P cablin

Abstract: Patchouli or Pogostemon cablin Benth is an aromatic plant of importance to the fragrant and cosmetic industries. Its secondary metabolites present interesting pharmacological benefits such as antioxidant and antimutagenic properties. This work is an extended study of the published work in ethanol and water solvents using Ewald summation method and mass spectra characterization of patchouli essential oil extracted with three different polar and non-polar solvents. Ewald summation method has reproduced a better radical distribution function (rdf) intensity in the polar ethanol and water solvents using COMPASS force-field. This work concludes that the complex molecular interaction particularly hydrogen bonding play a significant role to affect the solubility of patchoulol solute either in polar or non-polar solvents during the extraction process.