An essential oil is defined as an “odorous product, usually of complex composition, obtained from a botanically defined plant raw material by steam distillation, dry distillation, or a suitable mechanical process without heating.” The quality of essential oils is described in monographs of the European Pharmacopoeia. Gas chromatography (GC) and High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) are recommended for proper identification of essential oils.
This application note illustrates the different steps for transferring an HPTLC method to HPTLC PRO. A comparison of results obtained with the two system configurations is shown. The initial method uses standard conditions according to the general chapter <2.8.25> of the European Pharmacopoeia.