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. 2022 Mar 2;19(5):2904.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052904.

Examination of VOC Concentration of Aroma Essential Oils and Their Major VOCs Diffused in Room Air

Toshio Itoh  1 , Yoshitake Masuda  1 , Ichiro Matsubara  1 , Junichirou Arai  2 , Woosuck Shin  1
Affiliations

Examination of VOC Concentration of Aroma Essential Oils and Their Major VOCs Diffused in Room Air

Toshio Itoh et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

This study analyzed temporal variation of the composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at different diffusion time of gaseous phase of aroma compounds of four essential oils, lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, and melissa. GC/MS methodology with the trace gas sampling by a thermal desorption tube is used to quantitatively determine the concentration of the corresponding 14 kinds of major and original VOCs in four essential oils. This study revealed for the first time that the concentration level of gaseous phase composition is varied, with a diffusion time from that of the liquid phase at equilibrium with it and the VOCs in the essential oils are classified into two groups, depending on whether their concentration with the time. It is verified that the total concentration of VOCs of these essential oils in the room air diffused by the ultrasonic diffuser is as low as 0.6 ppb and decreased soon below 0.1 ppb.

Keywords: GC/MS; aroma oil; essential oil; eucalyptus; lavender; melissa; tea tree.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structural formulae of 14 effective components in this study. (1) terpinene-4-ol, (2) α-terpinene, (3) γ-terpinene, (4) α-terpineol, (5) 1,8-cineole, (6) (+)-limonene, (7) α-pinene, (8) β-pinene, (9) p-cymene, (10) linalool, (11) linalyl acetate, (12) citronellal, (13) geranial, (14) neral.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Preparation of diffusing and collecting test: Dropwise 0.5 mL of essential oils and effective component to 350 mL water in the aroma diffuser.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Diffusion of essential oils in the office room by aroma diffuser and (b) diffusion of 14 effective components in the draft chamber. The air in the office room and the draft chamber is collected by thermal desorption (TD) tubes using aspirator.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schedule of collecting air, including diffused essential oils and effective components by TD tubes.
Figure 5
Figure 5
GC/MS system, TD tube, and PVDF bag.
Figure 6
Figure 6
GC/MS chromatogram of lavender. Descriptions of the peaks were from the analysis results using the MS database, and descriptions with structural formulae mean major components of lavender, as listed in Table 1. Samples of [bg] and [bag] chromatogram were the room air before lavender-diffusing as a background measurement and gas from PVDF bag as a reference, respectively.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Temporal change of VOCs in the room air diffused by lavender oil.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Temporal change of VOCs in the room air diffused by Tea tree oil.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Temporal change of VOCs in the room air diffused by Eucalyptus oil.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Temporal change of VOCs in the room air diffused by Melissa oil.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Summary of the temporal changes of 14 effective components diffused in the room air. (a) before, (b) after the retention time around 16 min. * Calculated by assuming the molar ratio of neral and geranial contained in citral is 1:1.
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