Diversity of volatile organic compounds in 14 rose cultivars

ABSTRACT

This study illustrates the importance of multivariate analysis in profiling the levels of 104 volatiles across 14 modern rose cultivars obtained using headspace gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. Despite differences in the abundance of volatiles, the cultivars ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’, ‘Golden Celebration’ and ‘The Poet’s Wife’ share similar profiles of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the absence of phenethyl alcohol, which is usually associated with a characteristic ‘rose’ fragrance. R. ‘Hansa’ is the cultivar with the greatest abundance of volatiles, with high levels of acyclic monoterpenes and aromatic compounds. No monoterpenes were detected from the climbing rose R. ‘August Gervais’. The study revealed that highly fragrant cultivars tend to produce VOCs in higher intensity and greater diversity. These findings also demonstrate the potential of using headspace analysis to compare the natural aromas of rose cultivars, which provides information to inspire innovation in the perfumery and food industries.

Abbreviations

AMT, acyclic monoterpenes; ARM, aromatic compounds; CMT, cyclic monoterpenes; GLV, green leaf volatiles; HEX, C₆ lipid derivatives; OTH, other volatiles; PCoA, principal coordinates analysis; PEA, phenethyl alcohol; RI, retention index; SSQ, sesquiterpenes; TD-GC-MS, thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; VOC, volatile organic compounds.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Rosaceae
• fragrance
• headspace GC-MS
• PCoA
• Z-score heatmap

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by a research grant to MSJS from The Procter & Gamble Company (USA). We thank the horticultural staff at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for their help and Hui-Tzu Chou, Ya-Chu Huang, Xin-Yen Li, and Sheng-Chu Ma (China Medical University, Taiwan) for collection of headspace samples and Lilybelle Wyatt for data extraction from GC-MS chromatograms.

Disclosure statement

The work was in part funded by P&G but the project was academic and the results have not been commercialised and none of the authors benefited financially from the study.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the The Procter and Gamble Company, United States.