Chinese Researchers Create Novel GC-ECD Procedure

Scientists in China have devised a GC-ECD procedure that involves bromination of acrylamide to give a derivative that is more easily detected at low levels than acrylamide itself. Their research comes in response to the discovery of acrylamide in many types of cooked food in 2002. This discovery made news due to the link between acrylamide and cancer. From a scientific point of view, the acrylamide discovery ensured the creation of a new generation of research grants, many of which involve mass spectrometry, using GC?MS or LC?MS.

Alternatively, They are using it for the analysis of acrylamide in heat-processed starchy foods by the method of standard additions.

Yonghong Zhu and colleagues from the Chongqing Academy of Metrology and Quality Inspection selected standard additions because it is known to produce accurate measurements for complex matrices, such as food. For each sample, equal aliquots are spiked with increasing amounts of a standard solution of acrylamide, and a further aliquot is analyzed without any addition. When the GC peak areas are plotted against the amount of added standard, the intercept on the axis represents the amount of acrylamide in the unspiked aliquot.

The procedure is recommended for the analysis of acrylamide in cooked starchy foods. This method does not require solid-phase extraction or sample concentration of the extract, yet it gives excellent detection limits and analytical performance.