Factor analysis of volatile components in flue-cured tobacco

Twenty-five volatile components from 55 flue-cured tobacco samples were analysed by the factor analysis methodology. The results showed that the top five principal components accounted for 78% of cumulative variance for all the twenty-five tobacco volatile components. The critical variables from the samples were thus markedly reduced and the correlation between the factors and variables were simplified through further varimax rotation. Several common tobacco characteristics were identified and among them four factors were presented, i.e. the acid factor, the furan composition factor, a factor representing the degradation product of carotenoid, and a factor representing the degradation product of acyclic isoprenoids and chlorophylls.