Micro Two-Dimensional Thin-Layer Chromatography and Chemometric Analysis of Essential Oils from Selected Mentha Species and Its Application in Herbal Fingerprinting

Micro two-dimensional thin-layer chromatographic systems (micro-2D-TLCs) were optimized using some popular nonaqueous mobile phases on 5cmx5cm silica plates. The optimal 2D TLC systems were chosen based on correlations of R-F values vs. mobile phases concentrations performed for 1D separations. Finally plates were developed using the following mobile phases: in the first direction - ethyl acetate/toluene (5/95; v/v) and in the second direction - ethyl acetate/n-heptane (15/85; v/v). Eleven essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation in Deryng apparatus from various mint specimens were separated and then 2D thin-layer chromatograms were densitometrically scanned at the wavelength of 254nm. Digital images (exported from densitometer software as ASCII files) were processed using ImageJ free software, and then some chemometric parameters were calculated (determination coefficient, congruence coefficient, Euclidean's distance, Manhattan's distance, Chebyshev's distance) and additionally, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to determine the goodness of matching for individual essential oils. The chemometric analysis allows one to identify individual essential oils and the examined plant materials.