Abstract: Chemical constituents of extracts from Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils.bark were studied through steam distillation, supercritical CO₂extraction and GC-MS technology. The study revealed that chemical components by supercritical CO₂extraction possessed less chemical constituents but higher relative contents of magnolol and honokiol than those by steam distillation. Components from M. officinalis by supercritical CO₂ extraction mainly contained neolignans such as magnolol and honokiol. However,components by steam distillation were mainly sesquiterpenes and oxygenated sesquiterpenes such as α-eudesmol, decahydro-α,α,4a-trimethyl-8-methylene-2-naphthalene-methanol.Substances by steam distillation and supercritical CO₂ extraction have the common components such as copanen, caryophyllene, eudesma-4(14),11-diene, α-muurolene, 1,2,3,5,6,8a-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-1-(1-methylethyl)-naphthalene and 1,2,3,4,4A,5,6,8a-octahydro-8-tetramethyl-2-naphthalene-methanol. Except those compounds that have been reported, some compounds such as eudesma-4(14),11-diene, 1,2,3,5,6,8a-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-1-(1-methylethyl)-naphthalene, α-santalol, 4-methylene-1-methyl-2-(2-methyl-1-propen-1-yl)-1-vinyl-cycloheptane, 4,5,6,6a-tetrahydro-2(1H)-pentalenone, decahydro-α,α,4a-trimethyl-8-methylene-2-naphthalenemethanol, β-panasinsene and hinesol were identified.

Key words: Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils., supercritical CO₂ extraction, steam distillation, chemical constituents