Classification of honey using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics

Abstract

The different type of honey depend on the nectar collected from the flower by the bees and regional climatic condition and gave different composition of carbohydrates to one another. In this study the different types of honey were discriminated based on the differences in their molecular content and some of honey samples were adulterated to differentiate them from the natural one precisely. The following respective weight ratios: 0.7:1.0. 1.2:1.0 (typical of honey composition), and 2.3:1.0 of solutions containing both D-fructose and D-glucose were prepared for adulterant solutions and then was added to individual honeys at levels of 7, 14, and 21% w/w. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and attenuated total reflection (ATR) sampling have been used to detect the composition of all samples from 650 to 4000 cm^-1 . For each spectra the range of 1000 to 1800 cm^-1 were used as variable with 5cm^-1 interval value of absorbance. The Chemometric method was used for all the samples by performing pattern recognition procedures and Principal Component analysis (PCA). The FTIR-ATR show to be good methodology to quantify the molecular content of sugar in honey and the Chemometric method is the pactical technique to differentiate the adulterant sample from the natural one.