Abstract:

To improve the quality of domestic cigar tobacco leaves, reduce dependence on imports, this study explored and developed determination methods for aroma-active substances in cigar tobacco leaves, and conducted a comparative analysis of intrinsic aroma-active substances between domestic and foreign cigar tobacco leaves. 26 tobacco leave samples from five different latitudes and longitudes (A, B, C, D, and E) were subjected to solid-Phase microextraction. Subsequently, the full-component data of 26 tobacco samples were measured using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC×GC-qMS). The detection results show that there are a total of 509 substances in the samples, which fall into six categories: polyphenols, organic acids, aldehydes, ketones and alcohols, heterocycles, esters and aromatic rings, and others. The content of aldehydes, ketones and alcohols in area A is the highest, reaching 15.20 mg/g, while the samples from area D₁ have the largest number of aldehydes, ketones and alcohols, up to 145 species. The content and variation trends of various substances in the plants from areas D₂ and D₃ are similar. The samples from Areas C₁ and C₂ also show similar variation trends in substance content. However, compared with area C₁, the content of organic acids in area C₂ is higher, reaching 1.17 mg/g, while the contents of aldehydes, ketones and alcohols, esters and aromatic rings, heterocycles, and other substances are relatively low. The samples from area E₂ are similar to those from areas C₁ and C₂ in terms of content and variation trends, but the content of heterocyclic substances is significantly lower, at 0.13 mg/g. PCA analysis reveals that the samples from foreign location A share potential similarities with some samples from domestic location D₁ and samples from domestic location E₁. Based on the research results, we believe that the tobacco plants from areas A and D₁ are relatively rich in substance content and species, and with potential similarities. So the plants from these two areas have the potential for introduction and cultivation.

Key words: cigar tobacco leaves, aroma substances, differences in producing areas, principal component analysis, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry