NATIONAL FOREWORD

The Indian Standard which is identical with ISO 770 : 2002 ‘Crude or rectified oils of Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus globulus Labill.)’ issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was adopted by the Bureau of Indian Standards on recommendation of the Fragrance and Flavour Sectional Committee and approval of the Petroleum, Coal and Related Products Division Council.

This standard was first published in 1952 and subsequently revised in 1957, 1992 and 2016. In the 1952 version, requirement for cineole content was prescribed as 55 percent minimum which was revised to 60 percent in 1957. The second revision was carried out in 1992, in which the requirement of freezing point was included. During that revision the Committee had noticed that the International Standard for the material prescribed minimum 70 percent f cineole content. Whereas the cineole content of oil of Eucalyptus globulus produced naturally in India was around 60 to 63 percent which could be upgraded to as high as 70 percent or even higher by fractional distillation. In view of this, the Committee felt that limit of cineole content need not be raised further from 60 percent as the standard pertains to natural essential oil of Eucalyptus globulus, while the higher concentration of cineole content would be possible only after processing. In the third revision, the gas chromatographic method given under Annex D is for guidance has been modified to include profiles through polar and non -polar columns. It is expected that the corresponding chromatograms would facilitate better purity profile and identification.