Volatile compounds produced by microorganisms isolated from cork

✍ Scribed by Paloma Caldentey; Maria Daria Fumi; Valeria Mazzoleni; Maria Careri

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 89 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0882-5734
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1026(199805/06)13:3<185::aid-ffj723>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

Microorganisms present on cork (i.e. the reproduction bark of Quercus suber L.) can produce odorous compounds aecting the quality of cork stoppers. This work aims to contribute to the study of the correlation between microbial growth and formation of volatile compounds in the cork. Dierent strains of microorganisms were cultivated on both malt extract and cork, and the odour of the culture was described by a panel. The volatile compounds were isolated directly from the culture media by a dynamic headspace technique followed by adsorption on to Tenax traps. The volatiles were identi®ed by GC±MS: 63 substances were identi®ed in malt extract cultures, mainly consisting of carbonyl compounds (16), alcohols ( ), and sesquiterpenes (13). Cultures on cork produced only 12 volatile compounds, more than half being sesquiterpenes. Sensory evaluation con®rmed that cork is an unfavourable culture medium if compared with malt extract.