GC-MS Analysis

The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was performed on an Agilent C 5975 GC-MS system with an HP-5MS capillary column (30 m × 0.25 mm internal diameter × 0.25 μm film thickness). The operating conditions were the same conditions as described above for the chromatographic analysis. The mass spectra were taken at 70 eV. The scan mass range was from 40 to 700 m/z at a sampling rate of 1.0 scan/s. The quantitative data were obtained from the electronic integration of the FID peak areas.

The components of the EO were identified by their retention time (RT), retention indices (RI) and mass spectra, relative to C9–C28 n-alkanes, computer matching with the library of NIST Mass Spectrometry Data Center (NIST11.L), as well as by comparison of their retention indices with those of the authentic samples or with the data already available in the literature [4]. The percentage of composition of the identified compounds was computed from the GC peak areas without any correction factors and was calculated relatively.
