Gas chromatography is a method of separation in which substances are passed through a stationary and mobile phase to distinguish its components. When used in conjunction with mass spectrometry, these components become easily identifiable. Gas chromatography, specifically, uses helium gas as the mobile phase to carry the compounds of interest through a column. As each compound is moved through the column, it interacts with the stationary phase, which can be either polar or nonpolar. These interactions are represented graphically as peaks on either a 2-dimensional (for gas chromatography) or 3-dimensional (for gas chromatography x gas chromatography) graph, and compounds can be identified by their polarity.<br/>In this research, gas chromatography will be used to analyze samples of clove oil. Clove oil is recognized for its variety of medical applications, especially in topical pain relief and cavity prevention, as well as use in cosmetics and antibacterial agents. A Lucidity Mini GC and a Shimadzu Gas Chromatograph will be used to separate the components of store-bought clove oil. Clove oil will then be extracted from dried cloves using the methods of maceration, steam distillation, and microwave-assisted extraction. The oils obtained by these processes will be analyzed by gas chromatography and their components will be compared to those of store-bought clove essential oil.

Extraction, qualitative and quantitative analysis of clove oil using gas chromatography

ACS Spring 2022

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