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A Retention Index Calculator Simplifies Identification Of Plant Volatile Organic Compounds, Ed Frederickson

Ed L. Frederickson

Plant volatiles (PVOCs) are important targets for studies in natural products, chemotaxonomy and biochemical ecology. The complexity of PVOC profiles often limits research to studies targeting only easily identified compounds. With the availability of mass spectral libraries and recent growth of retention index (RI) libraries, PVOC identification can be achieved using only gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GCMS). However, RI library searching is not typically automated, and until recently, RI libraries were both limited in scope and costly to obtain. Objective To automate RI calculation and lookup functions commonly utilised in PVOC analysis. Methodology Formulae required for calculating retention …