Ilex paraguariensis as chimarrão, terere and mate-tea forms: a comparative study of the volatile fractions of the plant materials and their respective aqueous extracts using Headspace Solid-phase Microextraction by CG-MS

Abstract

Abstract Popularly known as "Yerba mate", Ilex paraguariensis St Hil. (Aquifoliaceae) is a South American plant extensively used to prepare many beverages, with "chimarrão", "terere" and "mate-tea" as three of the most consumed, and the preparations methods, from the plant material process to extraction mode, determines the type of the final beverage. With many health benefits and also cultural and economic relevance, in this work the volatile compounds composition of these three main beverages were analyzed through headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) used in combination with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Through this technique, 39 main volatile compounds were identified with spectral similarity above 90%. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Heatmap analysis, the volatile compounds composition was profiled for all the extracts and start material, and a good homogeneity among the replicates was observed, along with similarities between extracts and their start materials, as well as a notorious distinctive clustering of the different Ilex paraguariensis products, all good indications of the capability of the entire methodology used to analyze volatile compounds profiles. Limonene and n-hexanal were found as the main volatile compounds, and their abundances seem to be affected by the extraction modes, mainly due to water temperature and plant drying process. This work successfully compared the volatile profile of "chimarrão", "terere" and "mate-tea" beverages and their start materials using HS-SPME-GC-MS techniques, with the identification of the volatile compounds as well as the impact of the preparation modes in these ones.