The Column-08-22-2017

Fresh fruit and vegetables have a limited shelf life and so there is a need to ensure that the products reach the shelf in a timely manner and with as little spoilage as possible. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an easily accessible way of monitoring changes in fresh produce. Hilary J. Rogers and Carsten T. Müller from the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK, investigate these VOCs in fruit and vegetables using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). They recently spoke to The Column about this research.

A method to determine the quality of olive oil has been developed using a novel atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source in combination with gas chromatography (GC) coupled to hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS) and a metabolomics strategy.

VUV Analytics has announced Hans-Gerd Janssen and his laboratory at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as the recipient of their academic grant.

Gary J. Patti is the recipient of the 2017 Agilent Early Career Professor Award.

Researchers from the Université de Strasbourg, France, have developed a method to discover cocoa bean origin by analyzing chocolate polyphenols using high performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection–mass spectrometry.

Food testing laboratories worldwide are responsible for checking the presence of regulated pesticide residues on food products because these chemicals can be harmful to health and the environment. These laboratories have traditionally relied on gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for rapid and reliable pesticide detection in large sample numbers. However, changing regulations and increasingly diverse pesticides are driving the need for alternative liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS)- based methods for comprehensive screening.

This article describes the application of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) and enhanced multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) spectrum libraries for multi-pesticide residue analysis. Using these methods, a high number of fragment ion transitions of target compounds can be examined to increase specificity and reporting confidence, reducing the risk of false positive or false negative detection.

This proof-of-principle study shows that dynamic headspace sampling with thermal desorption–gas chromatography–time‑of-flight mass spectrometry (TD–GC–TOF-MS) analysis can be used to investigate the complex aroma profiles released from flavoured cookies. Key flavour compounds in chocolate-chip, peanut, and orange-cream cookies are highlighted, and the effect of raising the headspace extraction temperature is examined.

A rapid and sensitive ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS) method was developed to simultaneously determine six plant growth regulators in bean sprouts with a simple preparation. Analyte extraction from samples was effectively performed using liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) by acetonitrile. Chromatographic separation was conducted on a C18 reversed-phase column with gradient elution. The analytes were detected by tandem quadrupole MS after negative electrospray ionization by multiple reaction monitoring. The developed method was validated by testing method specificity, matrix effect, sensitivity, linearity, accuracy, and precision.

A preview of RAFA 2017, which will be held 7–10 November 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Click the title above to open The Column August 22, 2017 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 13, Number 12, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open The Column August 22, 2017 North American issue, Volume 13, Number 12, in an interactive PDF format.