Characterization and differentiation of seaweeds on the basis of their volatile composition.

ABSTRACT

Thirty one samples from different macroalgae species have been studied to determine the influence of several parameters such as the harvesting season, the geographical origin, the species or a pretreatment procedure on their volatile composition. A Multiple Head Space Sorptive Extraction methodology coupled to Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry Detection (MHSSE-GC-MS) has been used to analyze 44 volatile compounds that can be found in the different samples. Of all the factors, the collection season proved to be the most influential, followed by origin with significantly lower volatile compounds concentrations found in the samples collected in spring and in southern Spain. A Principal Component Analysis showed that beta ionone, benzaldehyde, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, together with some acids were the most strongly affected by the season, with highest values in those samples that had been collected in the autumn. On the other hand, the pretreatment (raw, salting or dehydration) proved to have a low influence.