Juniperus Virginiana L.)
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American Journal of Environmental Sciences 1 (2): 133-138, 2005 ISSN 1553-345X © 2005 Science Publications Production, Yield and Derivatives of Volatile Oils from Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus Virginiana L.) 1Elif Semen and 2Salim Hiziroglu 1Department of Forest Products Engineering, Faculty of Forestry Karaelmas University, Bartin 74100 Turkey 2Department of Forestry, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater OK 74078-6013 Abstract: Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) is one of the most widely distributed indigenous conifers in southern states including Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas. Eastern redcedar is also an important source of the volatile oils. This specie adversely influences the environment resulting in degrading grassland, displacement of native plant population and increasing wildlife hazard. Range- grown eastern redcedar has a poor quality. However, some mesic forested sites in Oklahoma produce trees suitable for lumber manufacture. Cedarwood oil has a significant commercial value in a broad range of applications from cold-remedy salves to room sprays and insecticides. Its extensive utilization in a broad range of products is attributable to its unique properties, such as its odor, repellency or toxicity to many pests, antibacterial, antifungal and antitermitic activities. Value-added oil based products from eastern redcedar can have a major economic incentive. It is important to evaluate recovery methods, processing and analysis of the composition as well as its yield. Therefore the objective of the article is to summarize findings of some of the past and current studies related above aspects of volatile oils from eastern redcedar. Key words: Volatile oils, eastern redcedar, derivatives, recovery methods, oil compositions INTRODUCTION Mississippi, Texas, Florida, Iowa and Oklahoma in scattered form. As an example, more than seven million Volatile or essential oils are the concentrated acre lands in Oklahoma are covered by eastern aromatic compounds produced from leaves, seeds, redcedar[4]. Oil obtained from wood of eastern redcedar barks, roots and the peels of the fruits of wide range of (Virginian Cedarwood oil -“Red Cedarwood oil”) has plant species. They vaporize upon contact with air. been known for a long time and used in a very broad Volatile oils are recovered from plants by different range of products due to its unique properties, such as methods, such as steam distillation and solvent its odor, repellency or toxicity to many pests. Also extraction, depending on the present oil quality and the cedarwood oil derivatives have been used in numerous stability of the aromatic components. They can be industrial products in the form of fragrances and redistilled and purified for the desired properties of end flavors. Therefore, today eastern redcedar is regarded products. The volatile/essential oils and their as a potentially valuable and renewable resource for derivatives are used for their aromatic property as Oklahoma[4]. flavorings in food, beverage products, as fragrances in A number of research studies have been conducted perfumery and cosmetic products[1-3]. In the U.S. on recovery, processing and analysis of oil from eastern majority of the essential oils are obtained from redcedar in an effort to develop value-added products. agricultural plants and some from wildlife sources, such This study will summarize the history of essential oils as balsam fir, pine and cedar trees. Eastern redcedar is production from eastern redcedar and review some of also referred to as the “Virginia,” “Tennessee” related literature in the field. Properties of essential oils “Eastern” or “Southern Red Cedar” (distinguished from produced from the other tree species in the same family the Eastern White Cedar,” Thuja occidentalis L.), is an will be compared to those of the essential oils from important source of essential oil. The redcedar tree is a eastern redcedar. slow growing, evergreen, with a narrow, dense and pyramidal crown. It can grow to heights of 100 feet tall History of Production and Chemical Properties of and five feet diameter in the Southeastern states. Redcedar Oil: Eastern redcedar is known as Virginian Eastern redcedar grows from central part of Virginia Cedarwood Oil (VCO) or Cedarwood oil Virginia in the through North Carolina into Tennessee, central essential oils trade. VCO should not be confused with Kentucky and northern Alabama. It has also invaded in the other type of cedarwood oil obtained from the certain parts of Arkansas, southern Alabama, specie of J. Ashei-Texas Cedarwood oil (TCO), which Corresponding Author: Elif Semen, Department of Forest Products Engineering, Faculty of Forestry Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Bartin 74100 Turkey. 133 Am. J. Environ. Sci., 1 (2):133-138, 2005 is also produced commercially. Unlike VCO, (TCO) is 15 ºC, refractive index of 1.4872 at 20 ºC; and optical a prime product of the recovery process. VCO has been rotation of +57.1º. known for a long time. Until the beginning of 20th century VCO oil remained as a by-product of pencil Recovery methods and oil yield: Currently VCO is industry. One of the main VCO producers in the U.S is recovered by several methods, such as steam Texaroma Inc. in Lakey, Texas, utilizing the young distillation, continuous partial pressure, solvent trees as the raw material to produce oil. The oil extraction and super critical fluid extraction, for obtained from the leaf of Virginian Cedar (VCLO) is laboratory or commercial uses. Oil yield depends on not a commercial product like VCO. Due to its the type of the recovery method used. It is also poisonous components, it can not be a substitute for the correlated to the oil content of the wood, which is current commercial cedarleaf oil, which is produced affected by the other factors, such as, age of tree, from the northern white cedar or arborvitae, Thuja growth/soil and harvesting conditions, time of occidentalis and the western redcedar, Thuja plicata. harvesting, process control systems, tree segment that Today, the commercial cedar leaf oil has been produced sample taken from, pretreatment and collecting in the northeastern U.S., in the eastern Quebec, materials and size of the wood sample. The influence of southeastern Ontario and British Columbia in Canada. these major factors on the oil content/oil yield should The cedarleaf oil industry is small and directed by local be taken into the consideration while reviewing major farmers who distillate the oil using simple tools. In recovery methods used in the laboratory or industry. summary, the commercial VCO oil is distillated from Steam distillation is the most commonly used and waste wood of furniture industry in North Carolina and the simplest method of oil recovery due to its suitability the young trees in Texas. The physicochemical to field conditions[7]. The principal feature of the steam properties of essential oils, such as odor, color, specific distillation is that steam vaporizes the volatile gravity, optical rotation and solubility in the organic oil/substances, which are insoluble or slightly soluble in solutions are the main criteria that determine their water. Once the steam is cooled down and condensed, quality and end uses. The crude VCO is more aromatic the oil separates. Klein reported the oil yield from and lasting, compared to TCO. Its odor varies from eastern redcedar wood ranges from 1 to 3.5%, balsamic, sweet and soft to more woody and less depending on the ratio of the heartwood to sapwood[6]. balsamic. VCO is commonly used as an ingredient in Eller et al. [8] found that wood produced the same yield room deodorants, disinfectants, insecticides, cleansers of oil (3.5%) whether it is from virgin or secondary and other numerous industrial products due to its growth trees. Adams calculated oil yields from woody odor and fixative effect. VCO has the color of heartwood of eastern redcedar species based on both pale yellow to slightly orange and it is lighter than dry material weight and fresh material weight using a TCO. Some of the important properties of a good [9-11] [5] laboratory scale steam distillation unit . Distillation quality VCO is shown below . was carried out for 20h. The yields from heartwood of eastern redcedar were 3.18 and 2.56% on dry and wet Specific gravity at 15º/15ºC 0.949-0.961 Optical rotation at 20ºC -25º27’ to -37º15’ bases, respectively. A six hours solvent extraction Refractive Index at 20ºC 1.5030 to 1.5067 (hexane followed by methanol) was also carried out on Solubility Soluble in 8-10 vol. of the same material and 4.01% yield on dry base was 90% alcohol; attained. Payne et al.[4] conducted a study to determine 0.5-4.5 vol. of 95% alcohol is required for solution. the quantity of VCO isolated by various methods including laboratory and commercial steam distillation. Klein observed that physicochemical properties of In this study, sawdust wood material was pretreated VCO obtained from fresh and old redcedar wood were with several different procedures, such as blending, different from each other[6]. The samples derived from soaking in water for overnight. The samples, which fresh wood had a higher specific gravity and optical were blended and then soaked overnight, resulted in the rotation than those of derived from the old wood. The highest yield. A modified Abderhalden drying higher optical rotations of the fresh wood samples were apparatus (ADA) method was developed to determine attributed to their higher cedrol content. Cedrol and [1] cedrene (a mixture of -cedrene and -cedrene isomers) the oil yield and moisture content accurately . It was are the main components of VCO. Table 1 shows a found that the oil yield from ADA was greater than the comparison of the composition of commercial oils. one obtained through laboratory steam distillation Generally, crude VCO is distillated from waste fresh (SDA). The results indicated that the oil yield from wood and contains large amounts of cedrol crystals.