Resumo

BARBOSA, Fabrizio da F. et al. Effect of drying air temperature upon the content and chemical composition of the essential oil from Lippia alba (Mill) N. E. Brown. Quím. Nova [online]. 2006, vol.29, n.6, pp. 1221-1225. ISSN 0100-4042.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-40422006000600014.

Leaves of Lippia alba were submitted to six different drying treatments, using air at ambient temperature and heated up to 80 °C. The essential oil was extracted by steam distillation and analyzed by GC-MS. For the dried leaves, the oil content was reduced by 12 to 17% when compared with the fresh plant (0.66%). The major oil component was citral, representing 76% for the fresh plant, and varying from 82 to 84% for the dried material. These results showed that L. alba can be submitted to a drying process of up to 80 ºC without degradation and/or loss of the major, [LC1] active component.

Palavras-chave : medicinal plant; Lippia alba; citral.