GC-MS ANALYSIS OF SUBCRITICAL CO2 EXTRACTS OF TUBERS OF GYMNOSPERMIUM ALTAICUM SUBSP. SCIPETARUM

Recently we were interested in the chemical composition of Gymnospermium Altaicum subsp. Scipetarum. This is a new sub-endemic plant found in Albania, and never before anything was said about its chemical composition. Lately we presented some preliminary studies on chemical composition of extract taken with DCM from the tubers of this plant. In this paper will be presented preliminary results on the analysis of the extracts taken with sub-critical CO2 from the tubers of this plant.The dried tubers were grinded and extracted with subcritical CO2 in high pressure autoclave. The extraction was done at 65 bars and 33ºC. Under these conditions the CO2 is near its critical state and a Soxhlet like extraction could be produced. The extraction time was optimized at 4 hours, which allowed obtaining between 12-15Soxhlet cycles. After completion of extraction the CO2 was released giving the crude extract free from any traces of solvent. The crude extract was then analyzed with TLC and GC-MC. Identification of unknown peaks was done by Masspectroscopy. In order to better identify the minor peaks the crude extract was fractioned by column chromatography. The GC analysis of these fractions showed some new peaks that were not visible in the crude extract.