THE SUPERCRITICAL CO2 EXTRACTION OF Satureja montana ESSENTIAL OIL Article Highlights

• Supercritical CO2 extraction of Satureja montana was carried out with different pre-treated matrices • GC/FID analysis of extracts- dominant compound thymol was provided • Gland physical disruption by fast decompression provides the highest content of thy-mol and carvacrol • Extracts showed rather significant antimicrobial activity, similar to essential oil The effect of matrix pretreatment of winter savory (Satureja montana L.) on the supercritical CO2(SC-CO2) extraction yield, composition and antimicrobial acti-vity of extracts and essential oil (EO) was investigated. The herb matrix was submitted to conventional mechanical grinding, physical disruption by fast decompression of supercritical and subcritical CO2, and physical disruption by mechanical compression. The analyses of the essential oil obtained by SC-CO2 extraction and hydrodistillation were done by GC/FID method. The major com-pounds in winter savory EO obtained by SC-CO2 extraction and hydrodistil