Degree Name

MS (Master of Science)

Program

Chemistry

Date of Award

8-2006

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Chu-Ngi Ho

Committee Members

Ismail O. Kady, Scott J. Kirkby

Abstract

A simple HPLC procedure for the quantitative determination of citral, the major fragrant component in the lemon grass, has been developed. The procedure involves a C-8 stationary phase using a 90:10 methanol: water pH 5 mobile phase containing 0.25% 1-octanesulfonic acid and an UV detector (set at 233 nm). The lemon grass leaves were harvested fresh at different times of the year and were soaked in methanol for 48 hours without any mechanical assistance to extract the citral and other methanol soluble components. The method showed good reproducibility with relative standard deviation of 2.8% and 10.8% for two different sets of samples. The method showed linearity in the range of 0.89 - 35.52 μg/mL. The average recovery was 104.8%. The amount of citral found as a percentage of the dried leaves are, 0.093, 0.27, 0.10, 0.13, 0.16, and 0.066 for fall, winter, three summer, and 1 commercial store samples, respectively.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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