Characterisation of different clones of Picea abies (L.) Karst using head-space sampling of cortical tissues combined with enantioselective capillary gas chromatography for the separation of chiral and non-chiral monoterpenes

Head-space sampling (HS) has been combined with enantioselective gas chromatography (GC) for the analysis of chiral and non-chiral monoterpenes present in the cortical tissues of five different Norway spruce clones. (1S)-(−)-α-Pinene, (1S,5S)-(−)sabinene, (1S)-(−)-β-pinene, and (4S)-(−)limonene dominated over (1R)-(+)-α-pinene, (1R,5R)-(+)-sabinene, (1R)-(+)-β-pinene, and (4R)-(+)-limonene. Results showed a large variation in the enantiomeric composition of cortical tissues between different clones. The development of HS–GC greatly increased the speed of precise analyses of chiral monoterpenes in small samples and therefore offer excellent opportunities in studies on the ecophysiological and chemotaxomic roles of these chiral components.