In order to contribute to the auto-ignition and emission control for Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), a kinetic multi-component mechanism, containing 62 reactions and 49 species for mixtures of n-heptane, iso-octane and toluene is validated in this work, comparing for the concentration profiles of the fuel, the total hydrocarbons, O-2, CO2, CO, acetaldehyde and iso-butene. These species are sampled during the combustion and quantified. For these measurements an automotive exhaust analyser, a gas chromatograph, coupled to a mass spectrometer and a flame ionisation detector are used, depending on the species to be measured. The fuel, total hydrocarbons, O-2, CO2, iso-butene and acetaldehyde showed a satisfactory quantitative agreement between the mechanism and the experiments. Both the experiments and the modelling results showed the same formation behaviour of the different species. An example is shown of how such a validated mechanism can provide for a set of information of the behaviour of the auto-ignition process and the emission control as a function of engine parameters. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.