Abstract

Introduction: In recent years, the use of plant-derived natural oils has been increasing in the cos-metics and pharmaceutical industries due to the high demand for green materials. Among these is the sandalwood tree, whose heartwood is widely used in the cosmetics industry. Sandalwood seeds are also a promising raw material, containing bioactive compounds such as ximenynic acid,which have been widely researched and have proven anti-inflammatory and anti-aging effects.
Methods: This study investigated the process of solvent extraction of sandalwood seeds us-ing a Soxhlet extractor, and evaluated the effects of different parameters including solvent type (petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane) and seed-to-solvent ratio. Resulting oils were tested for physicochemical properties.
Results: Oil extraction yield decreased with increased mass ratio of sandalwood seed to solvent. Among the tested solvents, petroleum ether exhibited the highest extraction yield compared with ethyl acetate and n-hexane. The extraction process yielded 12.68% oil from 30 g of seeds using 250 mL of petroleum ether, with the resultant oil containing high levels of ximenynic and oleic acids. This lower oil extraction yield, compared to the theoretical content (~50%–60%), is possibly due to the high seed-to-solvent ratio.
Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the Soxhlet extraction process remains an effective laboratory-scale technique for obtaining valuable oil from sandalwood seed, offering strong po-tential for further research applications.