Abstract Previous studies showed that cold plasma treatment affects the quality of aromatic coconut water; however, the mechanisms underlying different treatment times remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of 0, 88, and 176 s of cold plasma treatment on the contents of reactive species, aroma compounds, amino acids, and lipids. The results demonstrated that prolonged treatment generated more reactive species, with nitrite content increasing to 417.63 ± 4.20 μmol/L. 2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline was well preserved, and the content of sweet-tasting amino acids decreased significantly. Lipidomics analysis revealed that there were 25 shared differential lipids existed in coconut water across different treatment times and that cold plasma primarily promoted the oxidation of glycerides containing 18:2 or 18:1 fatty-acids. Their degradation products can be further converted into flavor compounds such as octanal. These findings provide a theoretical basis for understanding the formation and transformation pathways of aromatic compounds in coconut water under cold plasma treatment • Longer cold plasma treatment times yield higher contents of reactive species. • 2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline can be well preserved during cold plasma treatment. • Glycine and alanine decreased significantly with the prolonged treatment time. • Cold plasma treatment affected glycerides containing 18:2 or 18:1 most significantly. • Reactive species promote lipid oxidation to affect aroma compounds such as octanal.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.