Volatile Composition of Essential Oils from Major Egyptian Citrus Cultivars: A Multivariate Chemometric Approach

Volatile Composition of Essential Oils from Major Egyptian Citrus Cultivars: A Multivariate Chemometric Approach | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Volatile Composition of Essential Oils from Major Egyptian Citrus Cultivars: A Multivariate Chemometric Approach Abeer H. Elmaidomy, Esraa M. Mohamed, Hebatallah S. Bahr, Usama Ramadan Abdelmohsen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8843507/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The essential oils extracted from the rind of Citrus spp. is abundant in chemical components of importance for the food and perfume industries, and therefore has been thoroughly researched during the past few decades. In this manuscript, we provide a comprehensive study of the volatile composition of this oils for the 12 most cultivated Citrus in Egypt: Citrus sinensis varieties (washington navel (Navelina), balady seeded orange, blood orange, sweet orange Sukkari), C. reticulata Blanco varieties ( Yousfy Balady, Ponkan Chinese honey mandarin, Murcott mandarin, Clementine mandarin, Dancy tangerine), Citrus aurantifolia Swingle (Key Lime), C. limettioides (Sweet lime), and C. paradisi Macf. (Tengelo Seminole). All 12 varieties have been shown to contain 49 volatile chemical compounds, the majority of which are terpenoid (90–100%). However, some of the volatile compounds found in citrus peel are non-terpenoid, and some of them may be helpful as species biomarkers. Multivariate data analysis was applied including unsupervised (PCA) and supervised multivariate approaches (PLS-DA, sPLS-DA) to profile volatile compounds across three Citrus groups ( C. reticulate varieties, C. sinensis varieties, and other Citrus species). PCA revealed partial overlap between C. reticulata and C. sinensis , while C. paradisi and C. aurantifolia were clearly separated. PLS-DA and sPLS-DA confirmed these distinctions, with sPLS-DA achieving stronger discrimination. Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) analysis identified key discriminant metabolites, including α-ocimene, neryl acetate, and germacrene B, as primary contributors to varietal separation. These findings highlight a subset of volatile terpenes as potential biomarkers for Citrus differentiation and authentication. Biological sciences/Biochemistry Biological sciences/Plant sciences Citrus species Volatile organic compounds PCA PLS-DA sPLS-DA Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 30 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 06 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 25 Feb, 2026 Editor invited by journal 24 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 16 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 16 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8843507","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":602830871,"identity":"789c1893-37c8-43cd-b17d-b3cf5a0b93db","order_by":0,"name":"Abeer H. 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In this manuscript, we provide a comprehensive study of the volatile composition of this oils for the 12 most cultivated \u003cem\u003eCitrus\u003c/em\u003e in Egypt: \u003cem\u003eCitrus sinensis\u003c/em\u003e varieties (washington navel (Navelina), balady seeded orange, blood orange, sweet orange Sukkari), \u003cem\u003eC. reticulata Blanco\u003c/em\u003e varieties \u003cb\u003e(\u003c/b\u003eYousfy Balady, Ponkan Chinese honey mandarin, Murcott mandarin, Clementine mandarin, Dancy tangerine), \u003cem\u003eCitrus aurantifolia\u003c/em\u003e Swingle (Key Lime), \u003cem\u003eC. limettioides\u003c/em\u003e (Sweet lime), and \u003cem\u003eC. paradisi\u003c/em\u003e Macf. (Tengelo Seminole). All 12 varieties have been shown to contain 49 volatile chemical compounds, the majority of which are terpenoid (90\u0026ndash;100%). However, some of the volatile compounds found in citrus peel are non-terpenoid, and some of them may be helpful as species biomarkers. Multivariate data analysis was applied including unsupervised (PCA) and supervised multivariate approaches (PLS-DA, sPLS-DA) to profile volatile compounds across three \u003cem\u003eCitrus\u003c/em\u003e groups (\u003cem\u003eC. reticulate\u003c/em\u003e varieties, \u003cem\u003eC. sinensis\u003c/em\u003e varieties, and other \u003cem\u003eCitrus\u003c/em\u003e species). PCA revealed partial overlap between \u003cem\u003eC. reticulata\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eC. sinensis\u003c/em\u003e, while \u003cem\u003eC. paradisi\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eC. aurantifolia\u003c/em\u003e were clearly separated. PLS-DA and sPLS-DA confirmed these distinctions, with sPLS-DA achieving stronger discrimination. Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) analysis identified key discriminant metabolites, including α-ocimene, neryl acetate, and germacrene B, as primary contributors to varietal separation. These findings highlight a subset of volatile terpenes as potential biomarkers for \u003cem\u003eCitrus\u003c/em\u003e differentiation and authentication.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Volatile Composition of Essential Oils from Major Egyptian Citrus Cultivars: A Multivariate Chemometric Approach","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-11 04:45:19","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8843507/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-30T05:03:40+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"264494803697917592690082832115275484074","date":"2026-03-09T05:21:43+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"171617412573445250419359537497759642280","date":"2026-03-09T03:48:15+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-03-06T08:45:06+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-02-26T03:11:16+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-25T03:06:23+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-02-16T17:47:48+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-02-16T17:41:03+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"53eed4c0-9625-41df-aadf-53bbeedda92e","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 11th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":64142710,"name":"Biological sciences/Biochemistry"},{"id":64142711,"name":"Biological sciences/Plant sciences"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-11T04:45:20+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-11 04:45:19","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8843507","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8843507","identity":"rs-8843507","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}