Hello, dear respected researchers! How important do you think the retention index (RI) is for essential oil analysis? Is the mass spectrum alone not sufficient to elucidate the structure? We have a GC–MS system and are new to working with it. Do we need to inject the standard n-alkane mixture before each analysis, or is one injection sufficient for multiple analyses over a certain period? At the moment, we can only obtain TIC and mass spectra, but in most papers, the RI is also reported for identifying essential oil components.
The retention index (RI) in GC-MS is crucial for reliable identification of essential oil components, as it provides standardized retention time data alongside mass spectra, helping distinguish compounds with similar spectral patterns. Regular injection of n-alkane standards is advised to calibrate the RI for accurate and consistent analysis across runs.
A review in Analytical Chemistry (Warr, 1993) report this sentence:
“Library searching has limitations and can be dangerous in novice hands.”
I strongly suggest you read this article
Analytical Chemistry Vol 65/Issue 23, 1993
COMPUTER-ASSISTED STRUCTURE ELUCIDATION
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