Characterization of the major odorants found in the peel oil of Citrus reticulata Blanco cv. Clementine using gas chromatography–olfactometry

Gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC–O), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and preparative column chromatography were used to identify the key odorants present in laboratory‐extracted clementine oil from Spain. Almost 50 odorants were identified using GC–O, many of which were unsaturated aldehydes with high odour spectrum values (OSV). α ‐ and β ‐sinensal, trans ‐4,5‐epoxy‐( E )‐2‐decanal, ( E , Z )‐2,6‐dodecadienal and linalool were found to dominate clementine oil aroma. Enrichment of the oxygenates using preparative column chromatography provided further identification of a total of 50 aldehydes, not all of which were present in the oil at concentrations high enough to produce a response using GC–O. Aldehydes contributed approximately 80% of the total aroma of clementine oil. New odorants not previously reported in clementine oil include many unsaturated aldehydes, trans ‐4,5‐epoxy‐( E )‐2‐decenal, trans ‐4,5‐epoxy‐( E )‐2‐dodecenal, 4‐hydroxy‐2,5‐dimethyl‐3(2 H )‐furanone (furaneol), 3‐hydroxy‐4,5‐dimethyl‐3(2 H )‐furanone (sotolon) and 1,8‐cineole. No single odorant emerged as being characteristic of clementine oil aroma.