A high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method for the quality assessment of citronella oil: application in commercial sample analysis

Citronella oil, extracted from Cymbopogon species (winterianus and nardus) is a commercially valuable essential oil used in personal-care products and insect repellents. Routine analysis in gas chromatography is incapable of detecting high-boiling adulterants therein. In this study, an HPTLC technique was developed for the absolute quantification of citronellal (characteristic chemical marker) and triglyceride (main constituent of vegetable oil adulterant) in citronella oil for its quality assessment. It was validated in terms of specificity, linearity, sensitivity, accuracy and precision. Further, the developed method was employed to quantify citronellal and triglyceride in twenty commercial samples. The results showed a wide variation in citronellal content (trace to 30.65% w/w) and could differentiate its two chemotypes. Also, it revealed the possibility of vegetable oil adulteration through the detection and quantification of triglyceride in selected samples. It can be a simple and rapid technique for the quality control of citronella oil.