Comprehensive two-dimensional GC for the analysis of citrus essential oils

The lemon essential oil volatile fraction is considered one of the most complex amongst all citrus oils being traditionally determined by monodimensional GC. This conventional method, although providing important qualitative/quantitative information, lacks the necessary resolving power for the separation of several critical compounds. In the past, this has been often accomplished through the employment of conventional multidimensional chromatographic methods, which can only achieve the characterization of single parts of a sample and whose analysis times are generally high. Comprehensive bidimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) is gaining an excellent reputation for the separation of complex samples. This powerful analytical technique is characterized by both an enhanced resolving power and a great potential for the classification of unknowns through chromatographic retention patterns. In this research, these features are exploited in the analysis of a lemon essential oil.