Headspace screening: A novel approach for fast quality assessment of the essential oil from culinary sage Ivana Cvetkovikj a,⇑ , Gjoshe Stefkov a , Jelena Acevska b , Marija Karapandzova a , Aneta Dimitrovska b , Svetlana Kulevanova a a Institute of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Majka Tereza 47, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia b Institute of Applied Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Majka Tereza 47, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia article info Article history: Received 13 January 2015 Received in revised form 28 January 2016 Accepted 29 January 2016 Chemical compounds studied in this article: Camphene (PubChem CID = 6616) 1,8-Cineole (Eucaliptol, PubChem CID = 2758) cis-Thujone (PubChem CID = 249286) trans-Thujone (Iso-thujone, PubChem CID = 91456) Camphor (PubChem CID = 2537) Borneol (PubChem CID = 10049). Keywords: Sage Essential oil Quality assessment (HS) GC/FID/MS analysis Aroma profiling Conversion factors abstract Quality assessment of essential oil (EO) from culinary sage (Salvia officinalis L., Lamiaceae) is limited by the long pharmacopoeial procedure. The aim of this study was to employ headspace (HS) sampling in the quality assessment of sage EO. Different populations (30) of culinary sage were assessed using GC/ FID/MS analysis of the hydrodistilled EO (pharmacopoeial method) and HS sampling directly from leaves. Compound profiles from both procedures were evaluated according to ISO 9909 and GDC standards for sage EO quality, revealing compliance for only 10 populations. Factors to convert HS values, for the target ISO and GDC components, into theoretical EO values were calculated. Statistical analysis revealed a sig- nificant relationship between HS and EO values for seven target components. Consequently, HS sampling could be used as a complementary extraction technique for rapid screening in quality assessment of sage EOs. Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Culinary sage (Salvia officinalis L., Lamiaceae) is an evergreen perennial shrub with the centre of its native distribution in south- eastern European (Balkan) countries, which has economic, medic- inal and cultural importance (Cvetkovikj, Stefkov, Karapandzova, Kulevanova, & Satovic, 2015; Stefkov, Cvetkovikj, Karapandzova, & Kulevanova, 2011). Commercial forms of sage, commonly used by the food industry, are leaves (dried, whole or sliced), essential oils (EO) and oleoresins, are an important source of many bioactive constituents including terpenes and flavonoids. The predominant valuable metabolites include the monoterpenes (e.g., a- and b- thujone, 1,8-cineole, camphor), used mostly as antimicrobial agents. Diterpenes (e.g., carnosic acid) and triterpenes (oleanolic and ursolic acids), along with phenolic compounds such as ros- marinic acid, identified in the methanolic or ethanolic extracts, possess potent antioxidant activity (Cvetkovikj et al., 2013; Cvetkovikj, et al., 2015; Giannouli, & Kintzios, 2008; Stefkov et al., 2011). Although knowledge and use of S. officinalis dates back to ancient Greece, there is still remarkable interest in its chemistry (Atanassova, & Georgieva, 2010; Atanassova, Georgieva, & Ivancheva, 2011; Capek, & Hribalova, 2004; Lu & Foo, 2001; Pizzale, Bortolomeazzi, Vichi, Uberegger, & Conte, 2002). Second- ary metabolites determine important aspects of food quality and, lately, the bioactivities (antioxidant and antimicrobial) of dietary constituents has become increasingly important in human nutri- tional research. Thus, there is an increasing demand and need in http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.01.141 0308-8146/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: ivanacvetkovikj@ff.ukim.edu.com, ivanacvetkovikj@gmail. com (I. Cvetkovikj). Food Chemistry 202 (2016) 133–140 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem