On the Genuineness of Citrus Essential Oils. Part XXXVI. Detection of Added Reconstituted Lemon Oil in Genuine Cold-Pressed Lemon Essential Oil by High Resolution Gas Chromatography with Chiral Capillary Columns

ABSTRACT

Enantiomeric ratios of limonene in cold-pressed lemon oils, in reconstituted lemon and in mixtures of cold-pressed and reconstituted lemon oils were detected by GC with non-chiral and chiral capillary columns coupled on-line. The ratio of (−)-limonene and (+)-limonene in the genuine lemon oils was 1.8 to 98.2, while in reconstituted oils the same ratio was 14.9 to 85.1. Additions of reconstituted oils cause an increase in the ratio of (−) to (+)-limonene in genuine oils allowing the detection of additions of even 5% of reconstituted oils to genuine lemon oils.

KEY WORD INDEX:

• Cold-pressed lemon essential oil
• adulteration
• reconstituted lemon oil
• limonene
• enantioselective GC