Influence of the isolation procedure on coriander leaf volatiles with some correlation to the enzymatic activity

Coriander leaves (Coriandrum sativum L.) have become popular worldwide because of their pleasant and delicate aroma. By a hot water extraction method, in which coriander leaves were cut before suspending in boiling water for 2 min, the contents of the main volatile compounds such as alkanals and 2-alkenals from C10 to C14 decreased, while the levels of corresponding alcohols increased in comparison to those obtained by solvent extraction. To investigate the reasons for this variation, an enzyme activity was assayed. By using aliphatic aldehyde as a substrate and NADPH as a coenzyme, strong activity of an aliphatic aldehyde reductase was found for the first time in this herb in the relatively wide pH range of 5.0-9.0, with the maximum activity at pH 8.5. Additionally, the aliphatic aldehyde dehydrogenase, responsible for acid formation, was also found to have a relatively weak activity compared to that of reductase.