Abstract: To explore volatile markers in honey from different sources and to distinguish these honey effectively,a static headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SHS-GC-MS) method was optimized for detecting volatile compounds in honey,and the aroma compounds of 38 honey samples from four kinds of sources including rape,linden tree,chaste and acacia,were analyzed by this method combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA).The results showed that a total of 23 compounds were detected by SHS-GC-MS and the volatile components of the four kinds of honey samples had significant differences in types or contents.Among them,Benzenepropanoic acid,ethyl ester is the typical metabolic substance of rape honey,Benzene,1-methyl-3-(1-methylethenyl)-and trans-Rose oxide are the typical metabolic substances of linden honey,and the typical metabolites are not found in the chaste honey and acacia honey.Four kinds of honey can be distinguished well by PCA,and the accumulative contribution rate of PC1,PC2 and PC3 reaches 77.3%,indicating that the model is effective.When the critical value was taken as 10,the honey samples from same source can be well clustered by CA.Therefore,SHS-GC-MS combined with chemometrics can be used to distinguish honey of different sources and the research results provide theoretical basis for the traceability and identification of honey.

Key words: honey, volatile compounds, static headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SHS-GC-MS), chemometrics