Abstract:
Essential Oil (EO) of Nepeta Cataria L. has an attractive benefit due to its potential as alternatives compound of controlling mosquito vectors especially Aedes aegypti. This paper reports on application of response surface methodology (RSM) using Box Behnken design (BBD) to optimize the extraction of EO from Nepeta Cataria L. The parameters experimented were the time of extraction (120-360 min), temperature of sonication (30-50°C) and ratio of sample to solvent (30-60gram/150ml). The extraction was conducted by using soxhlet method assisted by ultrasound using ethanol (polar solvent). Statistical analysis and analysis of variance indicated that the time of extraction and ratio of sample to solvent are significant factors (p<0.05) affecting the yield while the temperature of sonication was insignificant (p>0.05). For the modelled extraction, the minimum critical values for ethanol solvent was 269.48 minute, 40.18°C and 33.22 gram/150 ml ethanol. Recovery of oil when 1 gram of raw material was used per 150 ml of solvent was 2.32%. By using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV), nepetalactone was detected at time of 12.694 min and 13.941 min using absorption peak 228nm.
