Composition of the surface wax from tomatoes. II. Quantification of the components at the ripe red stage and during ripening

• Published in: European food research & technology Vol. 219; no. 5; pp. 487 - 491
• Main Authors: BAUER, Stefan, SCHULTE, Erhard, THIER, Hans-Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer 01.10.2004; Berlin Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alkenes; Biological and medical sciences; Cultivars; Food industries; Fruit and vegetable industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Tomatoes; Vegetables; Fruit; Average; Fruit ripening; Tomato; Wax; Surface; Ripening; Red; Triterpenols; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Lycopersicon esculentum; Average composition; Tomato wax; Wax amount; Spermatophyta; Chemical composition; Solanaceae; Quantitative analysis
• DOI: 10.1007/s00217-004-0944-z
• ISSN: 1438-2377

The quantitative composition of the waxes from 26 different tomato cultivars was determined in order to get an overall view of the contents of the compounds identified in Part I at the ripe red stage and of the variability of results. On average, the tomatoes were covered with a wax layer of 50 µg/cm^sup 2^, which resulted in 29% of fraction 1 (mainly long-chain hydrocarbons), in 19% of fraction 2 (mainly long-chain alcohols and triterpenols) and in 52% of fraction 3 (naringenin-chalcone).The contents of a multitude of compounds are presented, most of which occurred only in traces. The predominant components were (in decreasing order) naringenin-chalcone, n-hentriacontane, δ-amyrin, n-nonacosane, β-amyrin, α-amyrin and n-tritriacontadiene, all with mean contents exceeding 2 g/100 g. In addition, the wax composition of one individual tomato cultivar was followed during maturation over the stages green, green-orange, red and mature red. Naringenin-chalcone, alkenes and alkenols were first not present but appeared only during ripening. Although the composition of the wax varied considerably, the triterpenols formed a uniform pattern which was similar for the different tomato cultivars and at all stages of fruit development.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]