COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF STEVIA ESSENTIAL OIL USING MULTIVARIATE CURVE RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES

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