Excitation-emission matrix fluorescence coupled to chemometrics for the exploration of essential oils

•A simple spectrofluorometer can be designed in the lab with low cost materials.•Simple tools for the correction of instrumental biases can be developed.•Essential oils can be explored by excitation-emission matrix fluorescence.

Excitation-emission matrix fluorescence (EEMF) coupled to chemometrics was used to explore essential oils (EOs). The spectrofluorometer was designed with basic and inexpensive materials and was accompanied by appropriate tools for data pre-treatment. Excitation wavelengths varied between 320 nm and 600 nm while emission wavelengths were from 340 nm to 700 nm. Excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectra of EOs presented different features, revealing the presence of varying fluorophores. EOs from the same species but from different origins presented almost the same spectra, showing the possibility that EEM spectra could be used as additional parameters in the standardisation of EOs. With the aid of unfold principal component analysis (UPCA), resemblances obtained by spectral analysis of EOs were confirmed. A five components parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) model was used to find the profiles of fluorophores in EOs. One of those components was associated to chlorophyll a.

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