A Comparison Between the Oil and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extract of Hungarian Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.)

ABSTRACT Two samples of wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.), which were collected from different locations in Hungary, were subjected to CO2 extraction and oil isolation by hydrodistillation. Using GC and GC/MS as the method of analysis their compositions were compared. Analysis revealed that the oils and extracts contained the same components although they differed quantitatively. The concentration of p-cymene, borneol, nerol and carvacrol was higher in the distilled oil than in the volatile concentrate obtained by SFE.