{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T14:41:13Z","timestamp":1767796873488,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767744000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Science and Technology Program Project of the Zhejiang Administration for Market Regulation","award":["ZD2024022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZD2024022"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Volatile fingerprint analysis using Gas Chromatography\u2013Ion Mobility Spectrometry (GC-IMS) was applied to differentiate cowhide (22 samples), sheepskin (6 samples), and pigskin (6 samples). A total of 126 signal peaks were detected from the whole GC-IMS dataset, with 96 volatile compounds identified. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed distinct clustering: cowhide exhibited unique volatile profiles, separating itself clearly from sheepskin and pigskin, which showed significant similarity. This was confirmed by Hierarchical clustering, K-means clustering (optimal k = 2), and Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) (R2 = 0.9836, Q2 = 0.9040). Cowhide was characterized by exclusive compounds (2-Hexanone, alpha-Thujene, Butyl acetate, 3-Methyl-2-butanol, 2-Heptanone, Hexyl methyl ether-monomer, Diethyl disulfide). Sheepskin and pigskin shared exclusive compounds (2-Methyl propanol, Isobutyl acetate, 2-Pentyl acetate, 3-Penten-2-one, 2,5-Dimethylfuran). Orthogonal PLS-DA (OPLS-DA) further differentiated sheepskin (Ethyl isobutanoate-dimer, Pentyl acetate-dimer, 3-Methyl-2-butanol, 2-Pentanone, 2-Methylbutanol-dimer, 3-Methyl-1-butanol, 2,5-Dimethylfuran, Propan-2-ol, Ethanol-dimer, and alpha-Thujene) and pigskin (Butan-2-one, Pentanal-dimer, 1-Pentanal-monomer, Ethyl vinyl ether, Z-2-Heptene, and Butyronitrile), identifying alpha-Thujene, 3-Methyl-2-butanol, and 2,5-Dimethylfuran as universal discriminatory markers. GC-IMS coupled with chemometric analysis provides a robust approach for leather authentication.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s26020382","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T11:46:43Z","timestamp":1767786403000},"page":"382","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Volatile Profiling and Variety Discrimination of Leather Using GC-IMS Coupled with Chemometric Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Lingxia","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Institute of Quality Science, 398 Jianshesan Road, Hangzhou 311202, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Siying","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biosystems Engineering, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xuejun","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Institute of Quality Science, 398 Jianshesan Road, Hangzhou 311202, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yang","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Institute of Quality Science, 398 Jianshesan Road, Hangzhou 311202, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaoqing","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Institute of Quality Science, 398 Jianshesan Road, Hangzhou 311202, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4603-1422","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhenbo","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biosystems Engineering, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"15","article-title":"Preparation and Properties of Split Microfiber Synthetic Leather","volume":"13","author":"Zhao","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. 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