Abstract:The fresh leaves of Piper betle have a unique spicy flavor and are usually used as a plant ingredient for chewing betel nut in southern China. In order to explore the volatile constituents of P. betle fresh leaves, the volatile components were extracted by different methods (steam distillation, headspace solid-phase microextraction, ultrasonic-assisted n-hexane extraction and ultrasonic-assisted dichloromethane extraction) and analyzed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that a total of 92 volatile constituents were extracted and identified, and the volatile constituents with relatively high contents were phenols, alkenes, esters and alcohols, with the main compounds being chavibetol, eugenol acetate, germacrene D,4-Allylpyrocatechol diacetate, β-caryophyllene and γ-muurolene. The number of volatile constituents extracted by steam distillation was the highest, with a total of 60 compounds being identified. There are 53, 42 and 25 volatile components, respectively, extracted by solid-phase microextraction, ultrasonic-assisted dichloromethane extraction method and ultrasonic- assistedn-hexane extraction method. Seventeen common constituents were extracted by the four extraction methods, with 20 unique volatile constituents obtained by headspace solid-phase microextraction, and 18 unique constituents by steam distillation extraction. The types and contents of volatile constituents obtained by the four extraction methods differed largely. For the purpose of extracting volatile active components, steam distillation is more suitable for the extraction of volatile active components. Solid-phase microextraction combined with steam distillation can extract more comprehensive volatile constituents from the fresh leaves of Piper betel. This study provides a reference for the development and utilization of the volatiles constituents of P. betle leaves.
