Extraction and characterization of essential oils from African basil (ocimum gratissimum) leaves of Uganda.

Abstract

African basil (ocimum gratissimum) is a perennial small herb plant of the lamiaceae family having a strong aromatic smell and a height of 1 to 3 meters. This plant is a native to tropical countries of Africa and Asia where it has traditionally been used as a flavoring agent in soup and meat as while as a traditional medicine in the treatment, of cough, yellow fever and headache. The aromatic smell of this African basil plant is due to the essential oils in the stem and Leaves Essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants and also known as volatile oil. Essential oil in the sense contains the essence' of plant's fragrance. And can be extracted from plant leaves, barks, flowers, stem, and seeds, Essential oil bring a wide range of health 'benefits, unlike modern drugs they have no side effects. Mostly, essential oil are obtained by distillation although other methods, are used other methods include expression, solvent extraction, absolute oil extraction, resin tapping and cold pressing. In this project, N-hexane solvent extraction was used to extract oil and the yield was 0.57%wiih extraction time of 4hrs, and the oil was found to contain chemicals like aliphatic fluoro compounds, alcohols, ethers, phenols using FTlR analysis.