Volatile compounds of Viola odorata absolutes: identification of odorant active markers to distinguish plants originating from France and Egypt

Absolutes isolated from Viola odorata leaves, valuable materials for the flavor and fragrance industry, were studied. Violets are mainly cultivated in France and Egypt and extracted locally. The absolutes of the two origins showed different olfactory profiles both in top and heart notes, as evidenced by sensory analysis. The aims of this study were i) to characterize the volatile compounds, ii) to determine the odorant-active ones, and iii) to identify some markers of the plant origin. Two complementary analytical methods were used for these purposes, i.e., headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) using different fiber coatings followed by GC/MS analysis and gas chromatography - olfactometry/mass spectrometry (GC-O/MS) applied to violet leaf extracts. From a total of 70 identified compounds, 61 have never been reported so far for this species, 17 compounds were characterized by both techniques (with seven among them known from the literature), 23 compounds were solely identified by HS-SPME GC/MS (among them only two being already mentioned as components of violet absolutes in the literature), and, finally, 30 compounds were only identified by GC-O/MS. According to the HS-SPME GC/MS analyses, ethyl hexanoate and (2E,6Z)-nona-2,6-dienol were specific volatile compounds of the sample with French origin, while (E,E)-hepta-2,4-dienal, hexanoic acid, limonene, tridecane, and eugenol were specific of the samples with Egyptian origin. Additional compounds that were not detected by HS-SPME GC/MS analysis were revealed by GC-O analyses, some of them being markers of origin. Pent-1-en-3-ol, 3-methylbut-2-enal, 2-methoxy-3-(1-methylethyl)pyrazine, 4-ethylbenzaldehyde, β-phenethyl formate, and 2-methoxy-3-(2-methylpropyl)pyrazine revealed to be odorant markers of the French sample, whereas cis-rose oxide, trans-rose oxide, and 3,5,5-trimethylcyclohex-2-enone were odorant markers of the Egyptian samples.