Dr. Imoisi Chinyere, Imoisi Chinyerea and Iyasele Uche Julius
The fresh fruits of black plum (Vitex doniana) were collected from several randomly selected trees in a farm site in Uromi metropolis, Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo state and then processed into an extract in form of syrup. Hydro distillation extraction (HDE) and GCMS (HDE-GC-MS) were used to extract and analyse the volatile compounds, VOCs (aroma) respectively from black plum (Vitex doniana) fruit syrup and the percentage of each components were reported as raw area percentage based on the total ion current. 24 different volatile compounds (VOCs) were identified and were grouped into seven classes of organic compounds comprising of 8 terpenes, 5 carboxylic acids, 4 ketones, 2 lactones, 2 aldehydes, 2 ethers and 1 ester. The terpenes are alpha-thujene (0.22%), eucalyptol (34.86%), linalool (0.79%), Fenchol-exo (3.31%), terpinene-4-ol(8.01%), alpha terpineol acetate (4.29%), 3-butyl spathulenol (0.83%) and caryophyllene (0.52%). The carboxylic acids components are heptanoic acid (3.77%), n-octanoic acid (14.86%), 3-octenoic acid (0.61%), n-nonanoic acid (1.20%) and 3-Decenoic acid (16.91%). The ketones are acetylfuran (0.20%), lilac alcohol format C (0.35%), P-hydroxylactophenone (0.76%), and cycloheptanone (2.24%). The aldehydes are benzaldehyde (1.79%) and lilac aldehyde B (0.79%). The Ethers are methyl eugenol (0.67%) and caryophyllene oxide (1.04%). The lactones are 4-octanolide (0.91%) and Jasmine lactone (0.43%). Esters represent the least of the total volatile compounds identified, which is methyl cinnamate (0.47%). The aroma components are the characteristic odour active compounds in Vitex doniana fruit syrup. The aroma components could also contribute to the biomedical activities of the syrup, especially its antioxidant effect due to their natural radical scavenging potential.
