Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for determination of the terpenes profile of blue honeysuckle berries

Terpenes are the main group of secondary metabolites, which play essential role in human. The establishment of the terpenes profile of berries of different blue honeysuckle cultivars was achieved by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC×GC-TOFMS). The berries were found to contain 44 terpenes identified by GC×GC-TOFMS. From these, 10 were previously reported in blueberries. According to their chemical structure, the compounds were organised in different groups: monoterpene hydrocarbons and monoterpene oxygen-containing compounds (oxides, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones). Positive identification of some of the compounds was performed using authentic standards, while tentative identification of the compounds was based on deconvoluted mass spectra and comparison of linear retention indices (LRI) with literature values. The major components of volatile fraction were monoterpenes, such as eucalyptol, linalool and p-cymene. Furthermore, quantitative analysis showed that eucalyptol was the most abundant bioactive terpene in analysed berries (12.4–418.2 μg/L).