Comparative analysis of flower volatiles from four Jasminum species growing in Egypt using multivariate analysis

The genus Jasminum is a valuable oil-bearing shrub in the Oleaceae family that produces concrete and absolute jasmine scents. Jasmine is an important floral ingredient in fragrances, soaps, cosmetics, and toiletries. As an export commodity, it is important to establish effective analytical procedures for authenticating jasmine species and detecting adulterants. In the current investigation, the volatile constituents of the concrete and absolute of Jasminum sambac (L.) Aiton, J. azoricum L., J. grandiflorum L., J. multiflorum (Burm. f.) Andrews harvested in August, in addition to J. grandiflorum factory products were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Furthermore, Headspace-GC-MS (HS-GC-MS) was used to investigate variations in the volatile oil composition of the flowers of the four Jasminum species throughout June to August. A total of 157 volatile components were identified belonging to various classes including monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenes, phenylpropanoids/benzenoids, fatty-acid derivatives, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and nitrogenous compounds. Unsupervised multivariate data analysis tools, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), were used to distinguish between the oil complexity within parameters such as species and seasonal variation. Moreover, the inhibitory effects of the concrete and absolute on monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) were evaluated in vitro. Concrete and absolute showed a potent MAO-A inhibitory activity with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) ranging from 4 to 35.39 µg/mL and 0.46 to 15.82 µg/mL, respectively. This study showed that jasmine blooms′ volatiles displayed promising in vitro MAO-A inhibitory activity, which establishing a biochemical basis for future mechanistic investigations.