APPLICATION OF HEADSPACE SOLID-PHASE MICROEXTRACTION FOR THE ANALYSISOF VOLATILE METABOLITES EMITTED BY PENICILLIUM SPECIES

Head-space solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) has been used to coll ect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from fungi of the genus Penicillium. Gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC-MS ) was employed for the analysis of the profiles of volatile metabolite s characteristic for each species. The results obtained by HS-SPME com pared favourably with those obtained by Tenax adsorption. The followin g characteristic metabolites were detected: isopentyl alcohol, 1-octen e-3-ol, 3-octanone, 3-octanol, 2-methylisoborneol and geosmin, togethe r with the not previously reported acetates of 1-octene-3-ol and 3-oct anol. Further, several mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and alcoho ls were identified, many of those for the first time from Penicillium species. The growth conditions were found to be of major importance fo r the quantitative aspects. Distribution coefficients between the fibr e coating and air were determined for some typical fungal metabolites using polyacrylate and polydimethylsiloxane as fibre coatings. No sign ificant differences in the results for the two fibre coatings were obs erved for non-polar to slightly polar compounds, whereas the more pola r compounds were better extracted by the polyacrylate fibre coating. H owever, the equilibration times are longer with this fibre coating. In creasing responses were observed with decreasing volatility of the com pounds for both types of fibre coating. Being a rapid, simple and prac tically non-interfering technique, HS-SPME has a great potential use i n the analysis of biogenic VOC emissions, including chemotaxonomical s tudies.