Onions (Allium cepa L.) are one of the most popular food ingredients in the world. The production of dried onions is more than 88 million tons every year. [1] The extensive usage of onions for industrial food production requires good storage properties. However, onions are prone to several microbial infections reducing their yield and quality. [2] In bulbs, which were infected by fungi or bacteria, two highly volatile compounds, namely 2-hexyl-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone and 2-octyl-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone, could be identified and structure has been elucidated by NMR and MS. For quantitative determination of both compounds, dimethyl dihydrofuranone DMDHF has been established as internal as well as external standard. The results showed that 3(2H)-furanones occur in concentrations between 1 and 30 ppm , related to the fresh mass of onions. The exact concentration seems to depend on the grade of infection.
[1] “FAOSTAT statistics database.” FAO, 2014.
[2] R. K. Mishra, R. K. Jaiswal, D. Kumar, P. R. Saabale, and A. Singh, “Management of major diseases and insect pests of onion and garlic : A comprehensive review,” J. Plant Breed. Crop Sci. Rev., vol. 6, no. November, pp. 160–170, 2014.