Among the numerous tropical and sub-tropical fruits produced in Brazil, two that attain relatively greater importance from the point of view of aroma of their pulp are yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis forma Flavicarpa) and yellow mombin (Spondias mombin L.). The volatile components in the pulp of these fruits were captured by dynamic headspace technique and were analyzed in a system of high-resolution gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Forty-eight and thirty-one volatile compounds were identified in passion fruit and yellow mombin fruit pulp, respectively. The predominant volatile compounds in passion fruit pulp belonged to the classes of esters (59.24%), aldehydes (15.27%), ketones (11.70%) and alcohols (6.56%) while in the yellow mombin pulp, the principal classes of compounds were esters (48.76%), alcohols (21.69%). aldehydes (11.61%) and ketones (4.19%). The other characteristic aroma compounds for passion fruit were beta-ionone and linalool and for yellow mombin were gamma-octalactone, butanoic and hexanoic acids.
passion fruit; yellow mombin; headspace; gas chromatography; volatile compounds
