Identification of aroma‐active components from cultivated agarwood ‘Qi‐Nan’ based on GC‐O‐MS combined with aroma extract dilution analysis

Abstract Agarwood ‘Qi‐Nan’ is commonly regarded as the highest quality agarwood, and has been highly valued for its fragrance. With the increasing amount of cultivated agarwood ‘Qi‐Nan’ in recent years, evaluation of the aroma compounds was drawn attention. Therefore, the volatile compounds in three cultivated ‘Qi‐Nan’ agarwood samples were extracted by simultaneous distillation‐extraction (SDE) and analysed by GC‐O‐MS, combined with aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA). A total of 70 volatile compounds were identified from three samples, in which sesquiterpenes and aromatics were characterized as key aroma‐active components. Nine compounds were considered as common aroma‐active volatiles in these three essential oils according to their flavour dilution (FD) activity and relative flavour activity (RFA) value, and among them, dihydro‐ β ‐agarofuran and 4‐methoxy‐benzaldehyde were the most important aroma‐active compounds. Additionally, three ‘Qi‐Nan’ agarwood samples showed different aroma specificity. TD agarwood was characterized by sweet sandalwood odour due to the dominant aroma‐active compound of β ‐Santalol. WS agarwood was distinguished by its woody odour because α ‐kessyl acetate was its primary aroma. HQ agarwood was featured by woody, spicy and balsamic odour on account of its main aroma compounds of agarospirol and β ‐elemene.