Fruit quality & volatile analysis using SPME and TD with GC×GC-TOFMS (Taylor Hayward, MDCW 2023)

• 🎤 Presenter: Allison Ferranti, Taylor Hayward (Apeel Sciences, Santa Barbara, USA)

💡 Book in your calendar: 15th Multidimensional Chromatography Workshop (MDCW) January 2024

15th Multidimensional Chromatography (MDC) Workshop 2024

Abstract

The aroma of bananas is an important indicator of the fruit’s flavor and can be an important characteristic of overall quality. Various factors such as storage and transport conditions, ripening protocols, and other conditions within the supply chain can have an effect on the overall volatile profiles, which have been studied using solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) on the pulp. These studies have shown to observe over 250 compounds including esters, alcohols, acids, aldehydes, ketones, and terpenes.

With such a complex mixture, the use of comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) can lead to improved separation and group classification to enable a better understanding of the produce physiology in these supply chain conditions. Additionally, these studies usually involve the destruction of the banana to analyze the pulp.

Here we are employing the non-destructive sampling of bananas, along with pulp analysis using thermal desorption and SPME sampling to monitor the ripening process of bananas. The green and yellow stages of bananas will be demonstrated.

The use of GCxGC-MS shows +300 identifiable compounds and with chemometric processing, important volatiles in the ripening process can be determined within these stages.