Analysis of Floral Fragrance Compounds of Chimonanthus praecox with Different Floral Colors in Yunnan, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Line 109 - The material of the septa sealed of 20 ml bottle should be specified.

Line 112 - The thickness of the PDMS should be corrected.

Line 115 - The data of the automatic SPME device must be included.

Line 121 - Diameter, thickness of the stationary phase information of the capillary column should be completed.

Line 127 - The temperature of the transfer line should be reported.

Line 129 - The NIST version should be reported.

The authors identified compounds by NIST database. Identification should be confirmed by retention data. The values of the Kovats retention index should be presented in Table 2.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript presents a headspace SPME GC-MS analysis of floral fragrance compounds from different floral colors of C. praecox from Yunnan, China. 

The aim of the study was well defined, while the references are relevant and up to date. The introduction is concise and the research question well justified. The chosen experimental methods are valid, while the discussion is adequate.

There is a degree of redundancy among the figures and tables of this manuscript. For example, figure 2 and table 2 depict similar information.

PCA analysis does not provide enough complementary data for the characterization or differentiation of the four floral colors. In my opinion, this analysis could be excluded.

Improvements should be made to figures 2 and 3 as follows:

Figure 2: Colors representing the different compounds should be all different in order to avoid any confusion. 

Figure 3: Please use a different color scale, as some differences are barely visible. (e.g. for indole)

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf