APPLICATION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY TO ANALYSIS OF VOLATILE OILS

Because of the limitations inherent in the commonly available detectors for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) this technique has received little attention for the analysis of volatile oils and it is envisaged that gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) with flame ionisation detection will remain supreme in this field. However, a number of volatile oils contain, often as their major constituents, compounds which may be readily assayed by HPLC with UV detection. In these cases HPLC provides a quicker analysis method and, because of the selectivity of the UV detector, a much simpler chromatogram than that obtained by GLC. For certain volatile oil constituents fluorescence detection is of value. The use of derivatisation for the detection of compounds possessing poor chromophoric properties is demonstrated. © 1978.