Chemometric tools for identification of volatile aroma-active compounds in oregano

One of the purposes of chemical analysis is to find quick and efficient methods to answer complex analytical questions in the life sciences. New analytical methods, in particular, produce a flood of data which are often very badly arranged. An effective way to overcome this problem is to apply chemometric methods. As part of the following investigations, three brands of oregano were analysed to identify their volatile aroma-active compounds. Two techniques were applied—gas chromatograpy–olfactometry (GC–O) and human sensory evaluation. Aroma-impact compounds could be identified in the main brands of oregano with the aid of chemometric methods (principal-components analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, linear discriminant analysis, partial least-squares regression). Therefore, it is possible to reduce the analysis of sensory and olfactometry to relevant attributes. This makes classifying new species easier, much faster, and less expensive and is the premise for quick and more economic identification of new potential genotypes for oregano plant breeding. A comprehensive list of oregano key odourants, determined by GC–O and human sensory evaluation using different methods of supervised and unsupervised pattern cognition, has not previously been published.