Characterization of volatile metabolites in Pu-erh teas with different storage years by combining GC-E-Nose, GC–MS, and GC-IMS

Graphical abstract

Highlights

• •

  The fingerprints of Pu-erh tea were constructed by GC-E-Nose, GC–MS and GC-IMS.

• •

  Significant changes in the volatile components occurred over 3-year-storage time.

• •

  A clear discrimination was achieved based on the volatile metabolites with GC-IMS.

• •

  Nine volatile biomarkers were identified based on VIP＞1.2 and p＜0.05.

Abstract

Storage time is one of the important factors affecting the aroma quality of Pu-erh tea. In this study, the dynamic changes of volatile profiles of Pu-erh teas stored for different years were investigated by combining gas chromatography electronic nose (GC-E-Nose), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS). GC-E-Nose combined with partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) realized the rapid discrimination of Pu-erh tea with different storage time (R ²Y = 0.992, Q ² = 0.968). There were 43 and 91 volatile compounds identified by GC–MS and GC-IMS, respectively. A satisfactory discrimination (R ²Y = 0.991, and Q ² = 0.966) was achieved by using PLS-DA based on the volatile fingerprints of GC-IMS. Moreover, according to the multivariate analysis of VIP > 1.2 and univariate analysis of p < 0.05, 9 volatile components such as linalool and (E)-2-hexenal were selected as key variables to distinguish Pu-erh teas with different storage years. The results provide theoretical support for the quality control of Pu-erh tea.