Insights into the key odorants in Chimonanthus praecox var. concolor Mak. Flower using the sensomics approach

Chimonanthus praecox var. concolor Mak. flower (CPCMF) is used in some food products, but its key odorants have not been determined. To characterize key odorants in CPCMF, solvent extraction combined with solvent-assisted flavor evaporation, headspace solid-phase microextraction and simultaneous distillation extraction were used to separate the volatiles in CPCMF. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfaction analyses, 121 odor-active compounds were identified, and their flavor dilution (FD) factors determined through aroma extract dilution analysis were between 1 and 6561. Fifty-six compounds with an FD factor ≥ 81 were quantitated, and their odor activity values (OAVs) were calculated. Eleven odorants with OAVs ≥100, namely, linalool, eugenol, (E)-linalool oxide (furanoid), hexanal, nonanal, cineole, methyl salicylate, limonene, (E)-isoeugenol, cis-3-hexenol, and β-caryophyllene, were determined as the most relevant key odorants of CPCMF using aroma recombination and omission experiments. In addition, linalool and limonene mainly existed in (R)-enantiomer. Results have some reference values for better utilizing CPCMF in food.