Metabolomic exploration of volatile organic compounds from barks of <i>Albizia</i> spp., with special reference to styrene derivatives

Members of the genus Albizia are used as shade trees in tea plantations as they exhibit various beneficial roles like adding nitrogen to the soil, moisture conservation, supplementing organic matter, besides providing shade. The bark of Albizia is considered waste resources as they do not have any known economic value. So, this experiment was carried out as an initiative to explore the possibility of valorisation of bark metabolites. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was employed for detecting the bark metabolites. A total of 66 compounds including latex, alkaloids, resin, wax, terpenoids, etc. were detected, out of which 18 were from Albizia chinensis , 22 from Albizia lebbeck , and 26 from Albizia odoratissima . GC-MS also detected the presence of diacetone alcohol, a major compound that has commercial application in paint coatings, preparation of cleaning solvents, inks, pharmaceutical preparations, sealants, primers, and pesticides, preparation of artificial silk, leather, antifungals, etc. Thus, Albizia bark derived waste resources can be useful for industrial purposes if they can be cost-effectively isolated on a large scale.