A high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method for the quality assessment of citronella oil: application in commercial sample analysis.

Citronella oil, extracted from species ( and ) is a commercially valuable essential oil used in personal-care products and insect repellents. Routine analysis in gas chromatography is incapable of detecting high-boiling adulterants therein. In this study, an HPTLC technique was developed for the absolute quantification of citronellal (characteristic chemical marker) and triglyceride (main constituent of vegetable oil adulterant) in citronella oil for its quality assessment.