Evaluation of aroma components in Chinese southwest tobacco by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

In this paper, a simple method of headspace analysis (HSA) was applied to determine aroma components in Chinese southwest tobacco. Ninety-seven aroma compounds were extracted from tobacco under optimized experimental conditions. Meanwhile, it took 4 h for traditional method namely simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE) for analysis, which is time-consuming and a waste of solvent. Compared with simultaneous distillation and extraction, headspace analysis is faster and more convenient in extracting tobacco aroma compounds. Moreover, six aroma compounds were first proposed in the research. The main aromatic components in tobacco detected by headspace can evaluate the tobacco quality and distinguish a specific variety from others. Headspace analysis method was proposed as an easy, rapid and environment-friendly method for the determination of aroma components in tobacco. The proposed method can not only enhance the extracting rate of aromas but meet the demand of qualitative analysis.