Headspace Compounds from Flowers of Nicotiana Tabacum and Related Species

Volatile compounds from flowers of four lines of tobacco, KY 14, TI1068, TI1112, and TI 1406, were entrained in air and trapped on Tenax. Each headspace sample was eluted with hexane and separated by capillary GC, and the components were analyzed by GC-MS. Total yields of volatiles ranged from approximately 600 to 900 ppb, which was 30-100 times greater than those from foliage of the corresponding plants. Caryophyllene was the predominant compound in three lines and a major component in the fourth, TI 1068. Studies of volatiles from five other Nicotiana species, Nicotiana alata, Nicotiana rustica, Nicotiana suaveolens, Nicotiana sylvestris, and Nicotiana tomentosifor-mis, showed that total volatile yields ranged from 88 ppb for N. rustica to 2424 ppb for N. sylvestris. There was wide diversity in the composition of compounds from the various species studied. N. tomentosiformis and N. sylvestris, which are putative male and female progenitors of tobacco, respectively, yielded several compounds also identified as tobacco flower headspace components.