Direct analysis of essential oils by means of TXRF spectrometry

Direct analysis of essential oil has been performed for estimation of the ele-mental content in five different extracted essential oils from the leaves of dif-ferent plants, namely,Mentha longifolia,Rosmarinus officinalis,Ocimumbasilicum,Elletaria cardamomum, andLavandula hybrida.A benchtop totalreflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with a maximum power of 40 Wwas used for this purpose. Fourteen elements have been quantified in most ofthe extracted essential oil samples, and their limits of detection were deter-mined. The detected elements are P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As,Br, Ni, and Hf. The validity of the present method was demonstrated using astandard reference material of organometallic oil sample. Two extractionmethods of essential oils from leaves of the mentioned plants are evaluated,namely, classical hydro-distillation and microwave-assisted hydro-distillation.The quantitative elemental analysis of the extracted essential oils using thetwo extracted methods was studied and compared.