Abstract:The volatile components of tea blossom were extracted by supercritical CO2, subcritical CO2, and petroleum ether medium extractions. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was applied to isolate and identify the volatile components in the three extracts. Principal component analysis, using the SPSS software, was adopted to analyze and compare the main flavors of the three extracts. Results showed that there were, in total, 58 volatile components in tea blossom. Of these, 55, 50, and 54 components were identified in the supercritical CO2, subcritical CO2, and petroleum ether extracts, respectively. They included 17 fatty hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons, 4 terpenes, 6 terpenols and terpenones, 4 aromatic alcohols and aromatic ketones, 2 aliphatic alcohols, 6 aliphatic ketones, 2 aldehydes, 5 esters, and 7 acids. The major volatile compounds of tea blossom included 2-hydroxy-2-phenylacetophenone (11.04, 10.23, and 8.41 μg/g, respectively, in the supercritical CO2, subcritical CO2, and petroleum ether extracts; same below), phenethylol (11.49, 9.98, and 8.52 μg/g), α-phenethylol (13.91, 12.30, 9.72 μg/g), linalool oxide (5.34, 6.35, and 4.38 μg/g), benzyl alcohol (6.60, 5.34, and 4.43 μg/g), 1,8-dimethyl-4-isopropyl-8,9- epoxy theaspirone (3.68, 2.37, and 1.61 μg/g), and β-ionone (2.67, 1.76, and 1.16 μg/g). The two principal components were deduced based on an analysis by SPSS. The fragrances of the supercritical CO2 extract were found to be richer than those of the subcritical CO2 and petroleum ether extracts
