Aroma-active compounds in Spondias mombin L. fruit pulp

Abstract

Application of an aroma extract dilution analysis to the volatiles isolated from sweet, fruity, and slightly turpentine-like smelling Spondias mombin L. fruit pulp by solvent extraction and solvent-assisted flavour evaporation afforded 39 aroma-active compounds with flavour dilution (FD) factors ranging from 4 to 1024, 33 of which were identified and eight that had not been reported in S. mombin fruit before. The highest FD factors were obtained for ethyl butanoate (fruity; FD 1024), 3-methylbutyl acetate (fruity, banana-like; FD 512), and 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethylfuran-3(2H)-one (sweet, caramel-like; FD 512). High FD factors were also found for α-pinene (resinous), ethyl 3-methylbutanoate (fruity), myrcene (geranium leaf-like), ethyl hexanoate (fruity), (3Z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (green, grassy), methyl 3-hydroxybutanoate (fruity), linalool (citrusy), trans-calamenene (clove-like, herbaceous), 2-phenylethanol (flowery), and vanillin (vanilla-like) (all FD 256). Data suggest that the sweet and fruity aroma of S. mombin fruit pulp is mainly caused by a group of potent aroma-active esters including ethyl butanoate, 3-methylbutyl acetate, ethyl 3-methylbutanoate, ethyl hexanoate, and methyl 3-hydroxybutanoate, in combination with sweet, caramel-like smelling 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethylfuran-3(2H)-one, whereas the turpentine-like note is primarily due to α-pinene and myrcene.