In sight on olive oil maceration and supercritical CO2 in extracting rosemary essential oil

The flavor, nutritional, and medicinal value of rosemary are well known. Hydrodistilled (HD) essential oil was prepared in the present study as a standard. Olive oil maceration (OM) and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) technology were separately applied to extract the essential oil of rosemary. The three obtained products, HD, OM, and SC-CO₂, were compared concerning their main constituents using GC‒MS. Their antimicrobial properties were evaluated against eight microbes by the disc diffusion assay. Interestingly, both 1,8-cineol and camphor were the major compounds in the three oils. α-Pinene was also detected in large amounts in both HD and OM. Additionally, borneol was the third major component in SC-CO₂. The antimicrobial results revealed differential effects against six microbes. However, HD oil also exhibited antifungal activity. Maceration is a green extraction procedure that is easy to perform in households, and attention must be paid to olive oil maceration as a complementary medicine that originated in pharaohs.