Abstract: The odor-active compounds in two brands (BTQ and YH) of Chinese sesame-flavor Baijius were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O). A total of 75 compounds in BTQ and 68 compounds in YH were identified by comparison of their retention indices (RI) and odor characteristics with those of reference standards. Among them, 48 odor-active compounds in BTQ and 46 in YH were further confirmed by GC-MS-O with aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA). The highest flavor dilution (FD = 6 561) factor was determined for methional in BTQ. Phenethyl alcohol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, ethyl butanoate, and ethyl pentanoate had the highest FD factor (FD = 2 187) in YH. A total of 51 odor-active compounds and 28 compounds that were not detected by GC-MS-O were quantitated, and odor activity value (OAV) was used to rank their contributions to the overall aroma. The results of OAVs showed that there were 40 compounds with OAVs ≥ 1 in BTQ and 36 compounds with OAVs ≥ 1 in YH. It turned out that ethyl hexanoate, 3-methyl butanal, ethyl butanoate, and ethyl 3-methyl butanoate made the greatest contributions to the aroma of Chinese sesame-flavor Baijiu. Based on FD factors and OAVs, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl butanoate, 3-methyl butanoate made important contributions to the aroma of Chinese sesame-flavor Baijiu.

Key words: sesame-flavor Chinese Baijiu, odor-active compounds, aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA), odor activity value (OAV)