Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric examination of chemical composition of two Eurasian birch (Betula L) bud exudates and its taxonomical implication

GC-MS was used to investigate the chemical diversity of bud exudates obtained from two species of white birch in Poland, Betula pendula Roth and Betula pubescens Ehrh. The ether extracts of the bud exudates contained more than 210 organic compounds including: terpenoids, phenylpropenoids of sesquiterpene alcohols and flavonoids. Headspace solidphase microextraction (HS-SPME) made it possible to detect as many as 140 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mainly sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and their oxygen derivatives. The chemical compositions of both the ether extracts and the VOCs varied qualitatively and quantitatively between the species. The extracts from B. pendula buds contained predominantly triterpenoids. However, B. pubescens exhibited high amounts of sesquiterpenoids, flavonoid aglycones and phenylpropenoids of caryophyllane series sesquiterpenols. The differences in the composition of compounds in the bud exudates enabled the two species of birch to be differentiated. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.