COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF STEVIA ESSENTIAL OIL USING MULTIVARIATE CURVE RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) combined with Chemometric resolution techniques were proposed as a method for the analysis of volatile components of Stevia oil. The essential oil of Stevia was extracted using hydrodistillation method and analyzed by GC–MS in optimized conditions. A total of 70 components was identified using similarity searches between mass spectra and MS database. This number was extended to 110 components with concentrations higher than 0.01% accounting for 94.75% of the total relative content using Chemometric techniques. The peak clusters were resolved using multivariate curve resolution-alternating least square (MCR-ALS). It is concluded that a thorough analysis of the complex mixtures such as stevia requires sophisticated GC–MS coupled with the Chemometric techniques. In EO of stevia; manoyl oxide, anethole, spathulenol, agathadiol, heptadecanol, caryophyllene oxide, L-fenchone, phytol, caryophyllene and kaurene were identified as major compounds