The North American pecan truffle (T. lyonii) is considered a choice edible truffle species with a pleasant aroma, although the volatile organic compound (VOC) profile has not been previously described. This study developed (1) an improved analytical method to identify and quantify VOCs in T. lyonii and (2) compared T. lyonii with French black P�rigord truffle T. melanosporum, Italian white truffle T. magnatum Pico and three commercial truffle oil products VOC profiles. A new headspace stir bar sorptive extraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry method (HS-SBSE-GC-MS) was developed to quantify seven important VOCs in truffle fruiting body and truffle oil. The method produced a linear calibration in the range 0.2 - 200 ng with r2 values =0.9887 in a standard solution containing authentic 2,4-dithiapentane, 3-methylbutanol, 1-octen-3-ol, 3-octanone, 3-octanol, trans-2-hexenal, and trans-2-octenal. The limits of detection in GC-MS (SIM mode) were between 0.01 and 0.36 ng whereas the limits of quantification ranged between 0.04 and 1.20 ng. HS-SBSE extraction time recovery rates for 0.5, 1, 2, and 24 hrs were compared with 24 hrs yielding the highest recovery rates in five VOCs ranging between 1.31 - 6.06% with relative standard deviations (RSD) =5%. Five VOCs in T. lyonii were significantly higher than T. melanosporum and T. magnatum, whereas 2,4-dithiapentane was the dominant aromatic constituent in T. magnatum. Chromatographs of T. lyonii showed numerous peaks suggesting high VOC profile complexity, although most of VOCs were not identified in this study. The truffle oil chromatographs showed simple VOC profiles with two VOCs, 2,4-dithiapentane and 1-octen-3-ol at significantly high concentrations. In conclusion, HS-SBSE-GC-MS is an effective method to quantify VOCs in truffles and truffle oil.

Determination of aromatic flavor compounds in pecan truffles and truffle oil by headspace stir bar sorptive extraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry

248th National Meeting (2014)

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