Food Chemistry, Volume 77, Issue 4, June 2002, Pages 511-515

Food Chemistry, Volume 77, Issue 4, June 2002, Pages 511-515

Quantitative analysis of -pinene and -myrcene in mastic gum oil using FT-Raman spectroscopy 

D. Daferera, C. Pappas, P. A. Tarantilis and M. Polissiou

Laboratory of Chemistry, Department of Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, 118 55 Athens, Greece 

Abstract

-Pinene and -myrcene are compounds that are contained in mastic gum in high concentrations. The -myrcene percentage determines the marketability of mastic gums. The chemical composition of mastic gum oil of a representative resin quality was evaluated by gas chromatography¯mass spectrometry (GC¯MS) technique. FT-Raman spectroscopy, based on band intensity measurements, was used for the determination of -pinene and -myrcene content in mastic gum. Bands at 1658 and 1633 cm-1 were used for the calibration of -pinene and -myrcene, respectively. Calibration curves were linear (correlation coefficient for -pinene was 0.992 and 0.997 for -myrcene) in the range 30¯80 and 3¯45%, respectively. Normalization of calibration curves, against the 802 cm-1 cyclohexane band, minimized the effect of laser beam power fluctuations. The proposed method is rapid and simple. Accordingly, mastic gum oils from Chios island (Greece) contained 38.1¯69.5% -pinene and 4.5¯57.9% -myrcene.