Near infrared spectroscopy as a rapid, non-invasive method for sandalwood oil determination

Fourier Transform (FT) - near infra-red spectroscopy (NIRS) was investigated as a non-invasive technique for predicting -santalol content in sandalwood chip samples. The correlation between the NIR spectral data and the a-santalol content from the GC-MS analysis was very high (R2 = 0.93). The feasibility study indicates that it is possible to use FT-NIRS to predict -santalol content in sandalwood chip samples. The technique of utilising NIRS technology for sandalwood quality and quantity determination needs to be further developed to be utilised as a tool for commercial applications