Rapid and accurate chemical determination of the water content of plants containing volatile oils

Abstract

A simple and rapid method has been developed to determine the water content of leaves of Eucalyptus species. The procedure described should be applicable without significant changes to most other species, and is particularly valuable for all those which lose volatile oils during drying. The method, which is based on solvent extraction followed by Karl Fischer titration, has proved successful for several species, experimental results confirming that no components of the leaf extract significantly interfere with the water determination. The simplicity and convenience of the solvent extraction method has been shown to have definite advantages over conventional procedures such as loss of mass on oven drying.