Characterisation of odour-active compounds in cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) fruit

Abstract

Optimized solid-phase microextraction GC-Olfactometry, and solvent-assisted flavour evaporation, combined with aroma extract dilution analysis and with the determination of odour activity values by quantitative GC-FID and GC-MS were used to analyse volatile compounds from cherimoya fruit and to estimate the most odour-active compounds. The analysis led to the identification of 92 compounds, 78 of them were positively identified. 18 odourants were considered as potentially odour-active compounds and contribute to the typical cherimoya aroma, from which 3-methylbutyl butanoate, α-pinene, methyl 2-methylbutanoate, butyl butanoate, and 3-methylbutyl 3-methylbutanoate were the most odour-active compounds. HS-SPME-GC-O has a great potential as fast and simple tool to control and assess aroma quality of cherimoya fruit.