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. 2025 Jul 30;30(15):3208.
doi: 10.3390/molecules30153208.

Geographical Origin Authentication of Leaves and Drupes from Olea europaea via 1H NMR and Excitation-Emission Fluorescence Spectroscopy: A Data Fusion Approach

Duccio Tatini  1   2 , Flavia Bisozzi  1   2 , Sara Costantini  1   2 , Giacomo Fattori  1   2 , Amedeo Boldrini  1   2 , Michele Baglioni  1   2 , Claudia Bonechi  1   2 , Alessandro Donati  1   2 , Cristiana Tozzi  3 , Angelo Riccaboni  3 , Gabriella Tamasi  1   2 , Claudio Rossi  1   2
Affiliations

Geographical Origin Authentication of Leaves and Drupes from Olea europaea via 1H NMR and Excitation-Emission Fluorescence Spectroscopy: A Data Fusion Approach

Duccio Tatini et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Geographical origin authentication of agrifood products is essential for ensuring their quality, preventing fraud, and maintaining consumers' trust. In this study, we used proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy combined with chemometric methods for the geographical origin characterization of olive drupes and leaves from different Tuscany subregions, where olive oil production is relevant. Single-block approaches were implemented for individual datasets, using principal component analysis (PCA) for data visualization and Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) for sample classification. 1H NMR spectroscopy provided detailed metabolomic profiles, identifying key compounds such as polyphenols and organic acids that contribute to geographical differentiation. EEM fluorescence spectroscopy, in combination with Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC), revealed distinctive fluorescence signatures associated with polyphenolic content. A mid-level data fusion strategy, integrating the common dimensions (ComDim) method, was explored to improve the models' performance. The results demonstrated that both spectroscopic techniques independently provided valuable insights in terms of geographical characterization, while data fusion further improved the model performances, particularly for olive drupes. Notably, this study represents the first attempt to apply EEM fluorescence for the geographical classification of olive drupes and leaves, highlighting its potential as a complementary tool in geographic origin authentication. The integration of advanced spectroscopic and chemometric methods offers a reliable approach for the differentiation of samples from closely related areas at a subregional level.

Keywords: ComDim; PARAFAC; SIMCA; chemometrics; drupes; fluorescence; leaves; machine learning; multiblock; nuclear magnetic resonance; olive.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. This manuscript reflects only the authors’ views and opinions; neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be considered responsible for them.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sampling sites for leaves and drupes. The three different selected regions are evidenced by colored markers as follows: (blue) Chianti and Siena; (green) Val d’Orcia; (red) Grosseto.
Figure 2
Figure 2
1H NMR spectra recorded for a single olive leaves’ (a) and drupes’ (b) sample from Siena region, which are representative of the typical NMR profile of leaf and drupe extracts.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Three-dimensional PCA score plot for 1H NMR data of the olive leaf samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Processed full excitation–emission fluorescence map of olive leaves. The green area represents the chlorophylls’ region (Region A), and the red area corresponds to the emission region of cellular fluorophores like amino acids, phenolic compounds, vitamins, and organic polymers (Region B).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Processed full excitation–emission fluorescence map of olive drupes.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Three-dimensional ComDim score plot for the merged dataset of the olive leaf samples.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Three-dimensional ComDim score plot for the merged dataset of the olive drupe samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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