The effect of various drying techniques on apricot volatiles analysed using direct thermal desorption-GC-TOF/MS.

The volatile constituents obtained from dried Sekerpare-type apricots by direct thermal desorption were examined using gas chromatography (GC) coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry (TOF/MS). Various commercially used drying techniques (sun, hot air and microwaves) were employed to dry the apricot samples before desorption. Some apricots were dried using only a desiccator and the volatile desorbed from these was used as a standard. Limonene (16.33%); (E)-2-hexenal (9.32%); gamma-decalactone (7.89%); butyl acetate (6.94%); beta-ionone (5.96%); acetic acid (4.83%) and isobutanal were found to be the major components in the desiccator-dried samples. This is the first study to report the detection of isobutanal, tridecanol and 1-pentadecanol as dried apricot constituents. The profiles of the volatiles desorbed changed when other drying techniques (sun, hot air, and microwaves) were used. The major components found in samples dried by these three methods were 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), 2,3-dihydro-4-H-pyran-4-one and furfural.