Pemisahan Sitral dari Minyak Atsiri Serai Dapur (Cymbopogon citratus) sebagai Pelangsing Aromaterapi

Abstract

One of Indonesian herbs that contain essential oil is lemongrass. Essential oil of lemongrass consist of citral as the main component. This research aim to separate citral from lemongrass oil and to analyze its potency as slimming aromatherapy. Citral was separated from lemongrass oil by precipitating using sodium bisulphite and diluting using NaOH. Citral then was fractionated by preparative thin layer chromatography (PTLC) that resulted F1 (near start point) and F2 (near final point). Essential oil, citral, and F2 from PTLC were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The potency as slimming aromatherapy was analyzed in vivo on adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Inhalation result of essential oil, citral, and F2 showed that the average body weight of rats after 5 weeks treatment period was lower than the normal group and the control group which consumed high cholesterol feed. The rats inhalated sitral had the lowest body weight at the end of treatment as a compare rats inhalated essential oil and F2. In conclusion, citral is a compound that is has potency as slimming aromatherapy.