Analysing cigar tobacco leaves from Hubei production area using HS-SPME-GC-MS combined with chemometrics

To investigate the differences in volatile components in different cigar tobacco leaves, headspace solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) plus multivariate statistical methods were used to study and optimize the effects of SPME fiber types and sample pH on extraction efficiency. HS-SPME-GC-MS analysis was then performed on 10 cigar tobacco leaf samples from Hubei production area. The results showed that: 1) A total of 47 volatile components were detected, including esters, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, acids, alkanes, olefins, amines, etc. 2) Principal component analysis showed that the samples from different regions in Hubei production area could be effectively distinguished by their differences in volatile components. 3) Partial least squares discriminant analysis showed that benzaldehyde, 2, 6, 10-trimethyltetradecane, megastigmatrienone B, phenylethanone, and farnesyl acetone were the important differential volatile components. Distinguishing different cigar tobacco leaf samples on the basis of their volatile components is therefore technically achievable and has a certain degree of accuracy.