Analysis of volatile components extracted from the peels of four different Chinese pomelos using TDS-GC-MS

The rational utilization of the resources of Chinese pomelo peels requires reliable fast evaluation methods for their quality. However, how to improve the accuracy of prediction of the volatile organic compounds in the peels is not well addressed. In this study dynamic headspace collection combined with thermal desorption system/cold trap injection and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TDS-GC-MS) was employed to examine the volatile organic compounds in the peels of four different types of Chinese pomelos.

All four kinds of pomelo peels contained substantial quantities of olefins, such as limonene, β-myrcene, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-phellandrene and terpinolene, although there were obvious differences in the volatile organic compound profiles obtained from the pomelos under the same test conditions. Extractions of Yuhuan, Xiangyou, Huangjin sweet and Guanxi sweet pomelo peels were found in a total of 34, 16, 9 and 20 different volatile compounds, representing total mass fractions of 99.18%, 99.88%, 100% and 99.33% of the overall extraction yield.

The advantage of this innovative method to the determination of volatile components in the peels of different pomelos is that it allows volatile components to be extracted from the fruit in its natural state. The volatile organic compounds of different kinds of pomelo peels under the same test conditions were obviously different. The results obtained in this study demonstrate that this method represents a novel and rapid means of evaluating pomelo peel quality.