Glass microfiber based method for extraction and detection of BVOCs of Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze

Abstract Under natural and ecological interaction like biotic and abiotic stresses, plants constitutively synthesize secondary metabolites which are extremely necessary for their normal growth and survival. Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are such secondary metabolites from adverse environmental conditions like different biotic/abiotic stresses where herbivory and mechanical wounding, such as leaf cuttings, are easily observed. However, BOVCs released from plucking injury on the young stem of Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze has very limited understanding which is usually experienced as “pleasing aroma” in the tea plantations. Moreover, “direct volatile injection” is a common method for BOVCs molecular characterization. In this work, a modified method, i.e., vacuum pressure coupled adsorption of BVOCs in glass microfiber filter, was used to firstly explore BOVCs from the stem injured young tea foliages (TV22), followed by molecular detection of its n-hexane fraction by GC-MS analysis. GC-MS chromatogram with stable baseline has shown the presence of a 13 (thirteen) lower MW metabolites (C2-C12) below 3 min of runtime which has signified the successful modification of earlier methods. In terms of power consumption, time, heat sensitive volatiles, and detection of low molecular weight/concentration metabolites, this method has strong advantages over the hydrodistillation method. Coupled with other downstream analyses, this method of extraction and detection of BVOCs of “pleasing aroma” from hand-plucked tea foliages has the potential to be observed for future application in perfume industry as a room, or body freshener.