IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences (IOSR-JPBS) e-ISSN: 2278-3008, p-ISSN:2319-7676. Volume 10, Issue 2 Ver. 1 (Mar -Apr. 2015), PP 00-00 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/3008-102XXXXX www.iosrjournals.org 1 | Page GC-MS Study on the Aroma of Thirteen Egyptian Mango Cultivars Mokhtar M. Bishr 1 , Mohamed A. El-Degwy 2 and Sayed A. Mossa 2 1,2, (Arab Company for Pharmaceuticals and Medicinal Plants, Mepaco-Medifood, Egypt) Abstract: The Egyptian cultivars of Mangifera indica L., have a great distinct difference in their aroma and fragrance, and due to the importance of the aroma (essential oils) in pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics and perfumes industries, it was necessary to investigate the composition of the essential oil of these cultivars. Gas chromatography Mass spectrometry using head space was carried out for the investigation of the composition of the essential oil present in the peel of thirteen Egyptian cultivars. The identification depends on the retention time, mass spectrum and data obtained from Wiley library. In order to find out the reason for the differences between these cultivars, the major common components, as well as the unique components present in each oil were investigated. In the near future, a detailed study for each separate cultivar will be done. Keywords: Mango cultivars, GC/MS, I. Introduction Mango (Mangifera indica, L.) is a perennial tree belonging to the family Anacardiaceae. This plant is native to Southeastern Asia and afterward spread to other parts of tropical world (1-6). Anacardiaceae is a family comprising 70 genera; one of these genera is Mangifera. Most Mangifera (Mango) in Egypt was said to be of Indian origin(4&7). However, enough time has passed since the first crop was introduced to permit a tradition of cultural methods to develop in Egypt and to permit the development of a large number of common seedlings of diverse types (4&8). This fact is clear now as most of the Egyptian cultivars are polyembryonic, while most of the Indian cultivars are monoembryonic (4&8). It is also expected that the Egyptian cultivars have come from Southern coastal region of India, where polyembryonic types are found (4&9). Another expected source is the coastal region of East Africa and Kenya, where many polyembryonic cultivars of Mango are grown (4&10). The different cultivars of Egyptian Mango have great and distinct differences in their appealing aroma and fragrance, where we can find wide range of sweet strong spicy flavors. Therefore, we decided to carry out the present comparative GC/MS study on the essential oil (aroma) content in the peel of 13 cultivars grown in Egypt. Although, a large number of components were detected in all oils; but we chose only the common major components as well as the unique components in each oil for the present study. Finally, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the chemical composition of essential oils of 13 cultivars using GC/MS with head space. Hydro-distillation method was avoided as it is more tedious, time consuming, needs several kilograms of the peel and hydrolysis by hot water as well as loss of volatile components is expected; whereas in the present study, small piece of the peel was required. II. Materials And Methods 2.1. Plant material: Fruits of thirteen mango cultivars were purchased from the Mango farms in Ismailia and Sharkyah, Egypt and identified by field experts in each farm, where their opinions were found to be identical. Third sample for each cultivar was purchased from the local market. A piece of the peel of the three samples of each cultivar was used separately for the GC/MS analysis. These cultivars, arranged alphabetically, are: Alfons, Baladi, Ewaise, Fagr, Fuss, Ket, Langary, Misk, Naomee, Sobaa El-set, Succari, Tomy and Zebda. 2.2 Equipments Gas Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry:Shimadzu GC-MS, Model QP-2010 Ultra, equipped with head space AOC-5000 auto injector is used for the analysis of essential oil present in the peel of the above mentioned Mango cultivars.