Bergamot essential oil and furanocoumarins. The main compounds in the oil are limonene, linalyl acetate, linalool, γ-terpinene and β-pinene, and in smaller quantities geranial and β-bisabolene. The main non-volatile compounds are coumarins (citropten, 5-geranyloxy-7-methoxycoumarin) and furanocoumarins (bergapten, bergamottin). The bergamot essential oil is particularly subject to adulteration being an essential oil produced in relatively small quantities. Generally adulteration is to "cut" the oil, i.e. adding distilled essences of poor quality and low cost, for example of bitter orange and bergamot mint and/or mixtures of terpenes, natural or synthetic, or "reconstruct" the essence from synthetic chemicals, coloring it with chlorophyll. Worldwide, each year, around
Bergamot essential oil process and allows for the detection of possible adulteration. The combined use of isotope ratio mass spectrometry and SNIF-NMR (Site-Specific Natural Isotope Fractionation-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) allows discovering adulteration otherwise undetectable even allowing for the identification of the geographical origin of the essential oil. The GC-C-IRMS (Gas Chromatography-Combustion – Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer) technique, the most recently used, allows obtaining similar results. Analytical values take as reference for genuinity evaluation of bergamot essential oil by the "Experimental Station for the Industry of the Essential oils and Citrus products", in Reggio Calabria, Italy. The phototoxic effects of bergamot essential oil have been