SUMMARY: Volatiles of peach (Prunus persica L., cultivar, Gleason Early Elberta) fruit were studied by gas‐liquid chromatography, thin‐layer chromatography and infrared spectrometry. Chromatograms of the volatiles of hard‐mature, firm‐mature, soft‐mature, tree‐ripe and artificially ripened, hard‐mature fruit were obtained with temperature programing and flame ionization detection. The volatile concentrates of tree‐ripe peaches produced 86 peaks. The major peaks were isolated and the infrared spectra determined and compared with authentic compounds.
In general, concentrations of volatile components increased with advancing maturity. The main volatile components were identified as gamma‐ and delta‐lactones, esters, aldehydes, benzyl alcohol and d‐limonene.
The highest total lactone concentration occurred in tree‐ripe peaches and was more than four times that of firm‐mature fruit. Gamma‐decalactone predominated among the lactones in tree‐ripe peaches. Artificially ripened peaches had very small amounts of gamma‐decalactone and lacked gamma‐ and delta‐dodecalactone, with a total lactone concentration abouf one‐fifth that of free‐ripe fruit. Concentrations of esters in artificially ripened fruit reached only one‐third to one‐half those of tree‐ripe peaches. Benzaldehyde was the predominant volatile in tree‐ripe peaches and occurred in five times the concentration found in artificially ripened fruit. These may be the determining factors relative to the inferiority of artificially ripened as compared to free‐ripened fruits.
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