A Comparison of Bioactive Molecules in Three Sage Varieties

Authors

  • Cindy Yao University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • Sharon Barden University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • Paul Mayer University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18192/osurj.v5i1.7524

Abstract

Sage belongs to the genus Salvia in the family Lamiaceae and is a large, globally distributed aromatic plant with a wide variety of species. This work explores and compares the chemical composition of raw plant material from common sage (Salvia officinalis), clary sage (Salvia sclarea) and white sage (Salvia apiana) using microwave-distilled hydrosol extraction, supercritical fluid carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) extraction, and alcohol extraction. All extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results show that the sc-CO2 and alcohol extraction methods yield more chemical components than hydrosol extraction, such as epimanool, humulene, sclareol and linalyl acetate. The chemical composition of common sage closely resembles that of a commercially obtained dried white sage, while clary sage varies greatly depending on the extraction method. The powdered white sage does not show any components other than camphor and eucalyptol, likely due to its age and how it is dried or powdered.

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Published

2026-06-17

Issue

Section

Original Research