Quantitative analysis of garlic (Allium sativum) oil unsaturated acyclic components using FT-Raman spectroscopy

A group of acyclic, unsaturated, sulfur containing, components present in garlic oil are quantitatively analyzed with FT-Raman spectroscopy. This group of components that may consist up to more than 70% of the garlic oil is responsible for some of the medicinal properties that are widely researched by scientists around the world. FT-Raman spectroscopy is evaluated against a gas-chromatography method. Band intensities at 1636 and 1606 cm−1 are used from untreated garlic oil spectra to determine the % content in acyclic, unsaturated sulfur containing compounds. The analyzed garlic oils were found to contain from 33.3% up to 75.3% of the targeted components. The proposed technique is simple, rapid and non-destructive for the sample.