Abstract: The aroma compounds in three different varieties of prunes were investigated with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame photometric detection (GC-FPD), suggesting that a total of 38, 35 and 32 non-sulfur aroma compounds and 4 sulfur-containing compounds were identified. Quantitatively, hexanol (453.143614 μg/kg), (E)-2-hexenal (926.67-4153.66 μg/kg), hexanal (438.72-3567.05 μg/kg), (Z)-2-hexenol (194.27608.03 μg/kg), phenylacetaldehyde (18.46-446.07 μg/kg) were the main compounds. On the base of gas chromatography?olfactometry (GC-O) and odor activity value (OAV), β-damascenone, hexanol, hexanal, 2-methybutanal, (E)-2-hexenal, 3-methylthiopropanal showed higher values, indicating that these compounds contribute greatly to the characteristic aroma of prunes. Furthermore, it was found that there were significant differences in aroma compounds among different varieties of Prunes by PCA method. Finally, four aroma compounds (β-damascenone, hexanal, 3-methylthiopropanal and (E)-2-pentenal) were selected to verify the accuracy of aroma identification of prunes by S-curve method. The results showed that the aroma compounds with great contribution to the aroma of prunes, presented the most significant effect on the threshold of the recombinant liquid. That is, these compounds could obviously improve the aroma intensity of the recombinant liquid. The study on the characteristic aroma compounds of different varieties of prunes provides a scientific basis for the effective utilization of prunes.

Key words: Prunes, GC-MS, GC-O, OAV, Characteristic compounds, S-curve