Abstract
The isolation of volatile compounds by vacuum-distillation with freeze-drying was tested 1 with fresh ginseng roots. The roots were frozen at-8$0^{\circ}C$; they were dried at-4$0^{\circ}C$ tinder vacuum(40 tory), for 24 hours; and the ice condensed at the silrface of condenser in the freeze-dryer was thauved at room temperature. The ether extract of the resulting aqueous solution was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID) or a nitrogen-phosphorils detecto(NPD) and by gas : chromatography/mass spectrometry(GC/MS). More than forty peaks were observed in the CG(FID) profile. and more than ten peaks were observed in the GC(NPD) profile. Among them, thirteen components 1including one aldehyde, four hydrocarbons, two esters, folly alcohols, and two vyrazines were identified: six components the molesuiar ions of which were m/z, 204 were estimated to be a series of azulene compounds; and the other components unidentified were estimated to have molecular weights of lower than 254. Therefore, the freeze-drying technicue is thought to be usefu1 for the isolation of volatile compounds of such low molecufilar weights from vegetables, fruits and biological fluids as well as fresh ginseng roots under the tested conditions.