Nine samples of lavender essential oil were analysed by GC–MS using low-polarity and polar capillary columns. Linear
retention indices (LRI) were calculated for each component detected. Characterisation of the individual components making
up the oils was performed with the use of an mass spectrometry (MS) library developed in-house. The MS library was
designed to incorporate the chromatographic data in the form of linear retention indices. The MS search routine used linear
retention indices as a post-search filter and identification of the ‘‘unknowns’’ was made more reliable as this approach
provided two independent parameters on which the identification was based. Around 70% of the total number of components
in each sample were reliably characterised. A total of 85 components were identified. Semi-quantitative analysis of the same
nine samples was performed by gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionisation detection (FID). The identified components
accounted for more than 95% of each oil. By comparing the GC–MS results with the results from the GC3GC–FID analysis
of a lavender essential oil, many more components could be found within the two-dimensional separation space.
2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.