Abstract
New simple methods for the Isolation of sesquiterpenes from Panax ginseng were developed. First, volatile compounds were isolated by simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE) with 30% methanol and $\alpha$-hexane instead of water and ethyl ether/pentane (1:1). Secondly, head space volatiles in U-shaped tube at 7$0^{\circ}C$ were passed through C18 Sep-Pak by nitrogen gas streaming and the adsorbed volatiles were fluted by $\alpha$-hexane. TLC analysis showed that the volatile concentrates consisted mainly of terpenes when colored by vanillin-sulfuric and. GC/MS data revealed that approximately 30 sesquiterpenes of molecular weight 204 occupied 81.1% or more of the volatile concentrates isolated by those two newly developed methods. Among these, alloaromadendrene, germacrene B, isocaryophyllene, $\alpha$-neoclovene, ${\gamma}$-muurolene, $\beta$-panaslnsene, and $\alpha$-humulene were identified as being major sesqulterpenes by authentic samples or literatme search Key words : Panax ginseng, volatile compound, sesquiterpene, isolation, new method, GC/MS.
