Xenobiotics in food samples by cryogenic-modulation GC×GC-QqQMS (Mariosimone Zoccali, MDCW 2023)

🎤 Presenter: Mariosimone Zoccali¹, Alessia Arena², Antonio Ferracane², Peter Tranchida², Luigi Mondello²´³ (¹Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche e Informatiche, Scienze Fisiche e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Messina, Italy. ²Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche e Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Messina, Messina, Italy. ³Chromaleont s.r.l., c/o Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche e Ambientali, Messina, Italy)

Abstract

Nowadays, the trends in the field of “Green Chemistry” are simplicity and rapidity of the analytical methods and the reduction of organic solvent consumption. For this reason, the aim of the present study was the development of a low solvent amount consuming sample preparation for the analysis of target xenobiotics in vegetable oils by using cryogenic-modulation comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (CM GC × GC) combined with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (QqQMS). The higher sensitivity of CM GC × GC, compared to one-dimensional GC, and the enhanced specificity of QqQMS, allowed the determination of xenobiotics in a simple manner in vegetable oil samples, with no need for analyte pre-concentration.

Analyte introduction onto the first dimension column was performed through a programmed-temperature vaporizer. The exploitation of cryogenic modulation and QqQMS (in the multiple-reaction-monitoring mode) eliminated the need for a target-analyte concentration step. Furthermore, the use of two analytical columns with high thermal stability and with a thin film thickness enabled the elution of high boiling-point matrix interferences. The GC×GC-QqQMS methods developed were demonstrated to be suitable for the trace level determination of food sample contaminants, in relation to maximum residue limits set by the European Union.