History & Background of the Essential Oils Components Database

When Prof. Robert Adams began research on essential oils in 1966, a major portion of his thesis work involved the identification of components in Juniperus by IR spectra. The technology of the day involved cold trapping compounds as they eluted from the thermal conductivity detector on a gas chromatograph. With current mass spectrometers, we can now accomplish in a couple of hours the analysis that took months or years.

The product is now a searchable database, in ether Agilent or NIST compatible formats, as well as an accompanying e-book with spectra, retention times and structures.

This book is an outgrowth of the previous books (Identification of Essential Oils by Ion Trap Mass Spectroscopy, Academic Press, 1989; Identification of Essential Oil Components by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy, Allured Publishing, 1995), but its roots reach back to 1976 when Prof. Adams took a sabbatical study with Ernst von Rudloff and Lawrence Hogge at the National Research Council of Canada. Their collaborative efforts yielded numerous mass spectra on their quadrupole mass spectrometer.

Over time, many began to appreciate the library that Prof. Adams had assembled, and participated in its expansion. So this book and database are an outgrowth of much collaboration, starting with Ernst von Rudloff and now reaching around the world. A special thanks to Prof. Adams' colleagues who unselfishly sent samples of oils, mass spectra, marked chromatograms, and even purified compounds.