Identification, quantitation and sensorial contribution of lactones in brandies between China and France.

Lactones are important flavor compounds in lots of foodstuffs. They also play an important role in brandy, but have not been studied at large. In this study, solid-phase extraction (SPE) and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) combined with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-TOFMS) were applied to identify and quantify lactones in brandies between China and France. Totally 17 lactones were identified, four of which were detected only in SBSE. Among them, γ-valerolactone, γ-heptalactone, δ-octalactone, γ-undecanolactone and δ-dodecalactone were detected in brandy for the first time. The results of partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed that lactones distinguished regional characteristics among different brandies. The omission test showed that four lactones (OAV > 1) had direct impact on the aroma of brandy, and other seven lactones at sub-threshold (0.1 < OAV < 1) provided peach and apricot aroma characteristics through synergistic effects.