Extraction of essential oils of Ferulago angulata with microwave-assisted hydrodistillation

Ferulago angulata (Apiaceae), an important medicinal plant of Iran, has been considered to have different therapeutical effects and are widely used in the perfume and pharmacological industries. Considering capability of F. angulata essential oils, the present study was conducted to optimized microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) method for F. angulata fruit in order to improve the yield and biological activities of essential oils. Optimization of the yield was done through central composite design (CCD) of the response surface methodology (RSM) using three variable factors (hydrodistillation time, irradiation power and plant/liquid ratio). Based on the RSM results, the maximum essential oil yield was obtained with the microwave power of 980 W and plant/liquid ratio of 2 (g/100 mL) at 72 min. The results revealed that MAHD of F. angulata produced the highest essential oil yield (6.50%) as compared with essential oil prepared with hydrodistillation (HD) (2.65%). The essential oils extracted by MAHD and HD were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) and indicated the main constituents of them were limonene, α-Pinene, s-Phellandrene, α-Phellandrene, and Terpinolene. The antioxidant study revealed that MAHD essential oil had higher antioxidant activity than the HD essential oil. Furthermore, the essential oil obtained by MAHD demonstrated potent anti-proliferative activity against MCF-7 with IC50 8.51 μg/mL. This research revealed that MAHD could be an effective method for hydrodistillation of essential oil in F. angulata in terms of shortening hydrodistillation time, reduction of energy consumption and increasing biological activities compared with the HD method.