Genus-Level Chemical Differentiation of Volatile Profiles From Dried Leaves of Ribes and Rubus Revealed by Standarized Hydrodistillation–Gc–Ms Analysis

with supplement

Abstract

Leaf volatile profiles represent structured secondary metabolite systems with potential chemotaxonomic relevance. In this study, the volatile fractions obtained from dried leaves of Ribes nigrum, Ribes rubrum, Rubus idaeus, and Rubus fruticosus were comparatively analyzed under standardized hydrodistillation-GC-MS conditions to evaluate compositional differentiation at the genus level. A total of 142 volatile constituents were identified based on mass spectral matching (NIST23, Match Factor ≥ 90) and retention index data. Multivariate analysis of major constituents (≥3%) revealed clear intergeneric separation, supported by hierarchical cluster analysis. Class-level statistical assessment demonstrated that Rubus samples contained significantly higher proportions of lipoxygenase (LOX)-derived C6 and related aliphatic compounds than Ribes (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001), whereas total monoterpene abundance did not differ significantly between genera. The results suggest that the observed compositional differentiation is primarily associated with the relative enrichment of LOX-associated volatiles in Rubus under the applied analytical conditions. The dataset additionally includes the first standardized report on the volatile composition of Rubus fruticosus leaves. Although based on a limited number of species, the consistency of multivariate and class-level patterns supports the consistency of the observed compositional differentiation.