Objective  The chemical composition of essential oil from flowers with different colors of Xanthoceras sorbifolium was studied, and the similarities and differences of the compounds in the essential oil were investigated.

  Method  The essential oil was extracted from the petals of X. sorbifolium in white, pink and purple. The components of essential oil were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

  Result  The yield range of essential oil of the three flowers was between 0.042%−0.050%. The higher yield was white flower, which was （0.048 ± 0.002）%. The 96 volatile compounds were detected in three kinds of essential oil. Among the 62 compounds detected by white flower essential oil, the main components were heneicosane (31.46%), tetracosane (14.16%), eicosane (7.55%), 1-nonanal (7.28%), muscalure (4.84%), perhydrofarnesyl acetone (4.83%); among the 65 compounds detected by pink flower essential oil, the main components were heneicosane (31.96%), tetratetracontane (20.83%), 1-nonanal (6.72%), octadecane (3.86%), perhydrofarnesyl acetone (3.76%), hexadecane (3.30%); among the 47 compounds detected by purple flower essential oil, the main components were heneicosane (30.33%), hexatriacontane (25.09%), tetracosane (14.44%), eicosane (7.42%), phytol (3.95%), hexadecane (3.28%). The content of hydrocarbons in the three kinds of essential oil was significantly higher than that of other types of substances (P < 0.05). Principal component analysis (PCA) of 29 common compounds in the three kinds of essential oil can be simplified into two principal components, and the cumulative variance contribution rate was 98.112%, which can reflect most of the information on the samples.

  Conclusion  There are some differences in the yield and compound composition of the essential oil in X. sorbifolium flower with different colors. In terms of yield, white flower essential oil is higher than other color flower essential oil, but the difference is not significant (P > 0.05). In terms of essential oil components, there are more types of compounds in pink flower essential oil than that in other flowers, and there are also large differences in the types and relative contents of the main compounds in each kind of essential oil. This study provides data support for the development and utilization of essential oil extracted from the petals of X. sorbifolium.