Abstract: This study aimed to explore the differences in the flavor compounds of Maotai-flavor Baijiu produced in different regions of the Chishui river basin. Headspace-solid-phase microextraction/liquid-liquid extraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/LLE-GC-MS) was used to detect and analyze volatile aroma components in 56 representative samples collected from 5 different regions. The results showed that a total of 85 aroma components were detected in all samples, including 45 esters, 11 alcohols, 7 ketones, 8 aldehydes, 3 acids, 3 alkanes and 8 other compounds. The main aroma components of Maotai-flavor Baijiu were basically similar while their contents largely differed among the producing regions. A partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model for discriminating Maotai-flavor Baijiu from different regions was established with 57 important aroma compounds as the key classification factors, which exhibited good classification, and further 20 factors with variable importance in the projection (VIP) > 1 were identified. The distribution of aroma components in Maotai-flavor Baijiu from different regions was characterized by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and heat map analysis.

Key words: Maotai-flavor; Baijiu; geographical origin; flavor chemistry; variation analysis