Identification of Saffron Volatile Components from 34 Different Geographical Regions of Iran by Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME) Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

Saffron is one of the most expensive and valuable food spices. Iran is the first country in the field of saffron production ( 90%), followed by Greece, Morocco, India, Spain and Italy [1]. Iranian saffron has a special place in the world. In this research the volatile compounds of saffron from 34 different geographical regions of Iran were analyzed by HS-SPME-GC-MS [2]. Saffron samples were collected and prepared according to standard procedure. Headspace solid phase microextraction is a simple, rapid, affordable, high sensitive and solvent-free technique which integrates sampling, extraction and concentration of volatile compounds before their GC/MS analysis [3]. Saffron samples were collected and prepared according to standard procedure. In this study 90 compounds were identified which is much more from previous works. Identification of volatile compounds was made by comparing their mass spectra with the mass spectra of two libraries (Nist05a, Wiley275) and also the literature. For each peak the kovats retention index was also determined and the value was compared with those reported in the literature. The chromatograms of 34 different regions were studied and some of the results are: The highest amount of total volatile compounds is related to south Khorasan and the minimum amount of total volatile compounds belongs to Gonabad in Razavi Khorasan and then to Qom. The maximum amount of safranal is related to Khorasan province and Zirkooh in south Khorasan has the highest value. The minimum amount of safranal belongs to Gonabad, Zanjan and Arak respectively. The maximum amount of α-isophorone, 2,2,6-trimethyl-1,4-cyclohexanedione and 4-ketoisophorone belong to south Khorasan. Arak, Zanjan, Gonabad and Kermanshah have the minimum amount of α-isophorone respectively. The minimum amount of 4-ketoisophorone belongs to Arak, Gonabad and Zanjan respectively. The minimum amount of 2,2,6-trimethyl-1,4-cyclohexanedione is related to Arak, Zanjan, Gonabad and Qom respectively. In Estahban in the Fars province α-isophorone was the major component and its amount was more than safranal . In Jajerm in the north Khorasan province 4 isomers of megastigma were observed. The amount of 2(5H)-furanone was very low in some regions.