Abstract
Coconut oil is the main edible oil used in South and Southeast Asian countries. Different types of coconut oils are available in the market including virgin coconut oil (VCO), copra coconut oil (CCO), coconut oil extracted by desiccated coconut (DC oil), and refined bleached and deodorized coconut oil based on the manufacturing process. Due to recently identified medical and cosmetic benefits, a huge market has opened for VCO. On top of that, vendors tend to mislead consumers by marketing DC oil instead of VCO for unscriptural financial gain. A reliable accurate method was developed to differentiate VCO from other coconut oils based on their process-based markers. A headspace solid-phase microextraction sampling method combined with gas chromatography was used for the isolation and separation of volatiles, respectively. Mass chromatography was used for the analysis of different constituents in coconut oils. A set of unique chemical compounds was identified for each coconut oil type such as 2-pentanone for VCO extracted from the dry method, hexanal for CCO, and acetic acid for VCO extracted from wet method. It was able to identify four compounds, δ-caprolactone, oxime-methoxy-phenyl, δ-octalactonone, and δ-decalactone which were common to oil coconut oil types. Since these unique compounds are only available in particular oil types, it enables them to be used as marker or tracer compounds to confirm their authenticity.
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Acknowledgements
Authors acknowledge treasury grants of Sri Lanka (TG 19/189, 2019) for the financial assistance to conduct research work.
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The work was supported by funding Treasury Grant of Sri Lanka under the grant number TG 19/189.
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HGTHJ: writing the article and investigation. HDW: technical support. HPPSS: conceptualization, supervision, and review the article. KRRM: supervision and review the article.
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H G T H Jayatunga declares there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National intellectual property office of Sri Lanka. H D Weerathunga declares there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National intellectual property office of Sri Lanka. H P P S Somasiri declares there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National intellectual property office of Sri Lanka. K R R Mahanam declares there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National intellectual property office of Sri Lanka.
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H. G. T. H. Jayatunga declares that there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka. H. D. Weerathunge declares that there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka. H. P. P. S. Somasiri declares that there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka. K. R. R. Mahanam declares that there is no financial interest. Only some parts of this paper have been used for a patent application on the date of 2023/02/23 to the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka.
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Jayatunga, H.G.T.H., Weerathunge, H.D., Somasiri, H.P.P.S. et al. Use of Process-Based Marker Compounds to Identify Different Coconut Oils. Food Anal. Methods 17, 96–104 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-023-02552-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-023-02552-y