We are thrilled to present our scientific poster about the development of an analytic method to authenticate Wintergreen essential oil naturality, during the 3rd aromatherapy congress, Aromadays. It will be virtually held on the 3rd and 4th of December.
The essential oil of wintergreen is well known in Aromatherapy for its antalgic and anti-inflammatory properties. The essential oil is obtained by steam distillation from Gaultheria genus leaves. Wintergreen essential oil is composed of more than 99% methyl salicylate. This aromatic ester can be easily synthesized and used to adulterate wintergreen essential oil. Due to its adulteration easiness with synthetic material, it is necessary to control samples naturalness with accuracy. The purpose of this work was to develop a methodology to authenticate the essential oil of wintergreen. Authentic wintergreen essential oil can be distinguished from adulterated oils by examining their compositions. The detection of methyl salicylate synthetic marker compounds contributes to the authentication. Isotopic values of authentic and adulterated wintergreen essential oils have also been measured. To determine the boundaries of the natural isotopic values, 14C radioactive isotope activity assessment was undertaken, which allows us to the determine the genuineness of samples that are not assessed using multistable isotope approaches.
This study has been also presented during “Advances in natural products analysis” webinar organized by the Pole Innov’Alliance on the 24th of November 2020. The Poster has been awarded “Best Poster” during ISEO 2019 congress. Naturalness authentication is still a trendy topic.
