Comparative analysis of chemical components of essential oils from different samples of Rhododendron with the help of chemometrics methods

Essential oils from four samples of Rhododendron were extracted by water distillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with the help of retention indices and chemometrics resolution method named subwindow factor analysis (SFA). A total of 128 volatile components were identified reliably and fleetly. A temperature-programmed retention index (I(u)(T)) dataset including these components has been constructed on a slightly polar capillary column (HP-5MS) at the given GC operating condition in which the standard GC parameter S=r(T)t(M/)beta=0.0087. The present work proved the usefulness of chemometrics and retention indices in complicated systems analysis and the I(u)(T)'s obtained can be used in other essential oil identification. The major components of the analyzed samples showed that essential oils from different genus or even different parts of azaleas are different from each other in chemical components. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.