Rapid Friedel–Crafts chromogenic acylations of alkene groups at ambient temperatures are shown to be successful selective procedures for discriminating among a group of natural products, twelve of which are structurally related low molecular weight hydrocarbons that include nine terpenoids, and nineteen unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid esters. The procedure has all the properties needed of a rapid, routine assay for use as a quality control test reagent for standard reference materials and natural oils, for on-line analyses during their commercial processing, and the potential for applications in the analyses of multicomponent mixtures without the need for prior separation.
