Determination of volatile compounds in fruits of Diospyros virginiana L.

Objective – to investigate the qualitative and quantitative content of volatile organic compounds in American persimmons (Diospyros virginiana L.) fruits of the collection of M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine. Material and methods. The objects of study were fruits of 10 years old plants of 7 genotypes (DV01–DV07) of Diospyros virginiana which were collected in October 2015. The investigation of the volatiles was conducted by the method of Chernohorod and Vinohradov (2006) using chromatographymass spectrometry. Basic statistical analyses were performed using PAST 2.17; hierarchical cluster analyses of similarity between genotypes were computed on the basis of the Bray-Curtis similarity index. Results. During the analysis of qualitative composition and quantitative content of volatiles of fruits from the 7 genotypes 129 compounds were detected, and 118 compounds among them were identified. Total content of volatile compounds was from 121.60 to 676.50 mg/kg. Identified compounds belong to hydrocarbons, aldehydes, carboxylic acids and their ethers, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, triterpenes. In the fruits of investigated genotypes prevailed fatty acids (mg/kg): myristic acid (from 18.5 to 234.6), palmitic acid (from 14.9 to 125.7), lauric acid (from 29.8 to 50.5), 7,10,13-hexadecatrienic acid (from 18.6 to 33.4), 11-hexadecenoic acid (from 12.3 to 22.1). For all investigated genotypes 14 components were typical: furfural, linalool, phenylacetaldehyde, α-terpineol, geraniol, lauric acid, ethylmyristate, myristic acid, pentadecanoic acid, ethyl palmitate, ethyl palmitoleate, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, and squalene. Conclusions. Detected volatile compounds in the fruits of Diospyros virginiana belong to alcohols, saturated and unsaturated aldehydes, ketones, fatty acids, esters, and terpenoids. Shares of keeping them in total identified fruits volatile substances vary and depend on the genotype of plants. The fruits are rich in fatty acids. They are considered as precursors of many specific aroma compounds. Found aldehydes are thought to be responsible for the decreasing of astringency by persimmon fruits. Study of the quantitative and qualitative content of volatile compounds of Diospyros virginiana fruits suggest about making sense of conducting further pharmacognostic investigations.