Volatile constituents of caja-umbu (Spondias sp.) fruit obtained by simultaneous distillation and extraction and solid phase microextraction

Caja-umbu is a fruit belonging to the genus Spondias and Anacardiaceae family and is the result of natural crossing between mombin (Spondias mombin) and umbu (Spondias tuberosa Arruda Camara). Caja-umbu is a fruit native of Northeastern Brazil and has good prospects for economic exploitation due to appreciable taste and exotic aroma. It is used mainly in the form of pulp, juices, nectars, jams, and ice cream. However, few studies are reported emphasizing the chemical knowledge of this fruit, especially with regard to the characterization of the volatiles chemical composition. Thus, this study investigated the composition of volatiles from the fruit pulp of Caj-aumbu through the techniques of simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE) and solid phase microextraction (SPME). A total of 51 compounds were identified in SDE extract and the main class of compounds was terpenes. These compounds represented a total area of 66.72%, and among them alpha-terpinene (19.10%) and Z-caryophyllene (22.68%) were the major compounds. In the SPME capture of volatiles, a total of 48 compounds were identified and the main compounds were alpha-terpinene (9.38%), alpha-copaene (7.29%) and Z-caryophyllene (11.17%). A total of 30 compounds were identified by both techniques. SPME was the most efficient technique for qualitative analysis, while SDE was better for quantitative analysis.