Analysis of irradiated cooked ham by direct introduction into the programmable temperature vaporizer of a multidimensional gas chromatography system

Abstract

A simple method involving direct introduction (DI) of cooked ham into a programmable temperature vaporizer and subsequent thermal desorption for multidimensional chromatographic analysis as a tool for studying changes of volatile compounds during food irradiation has been proposed. Analysis of non-irradiated samples showed four peaks in the precolumn, which were identified on the main column as peak 1, ethyl acetate; peak 2, a mixture of octanol and ethyl propanoate; peak 3, (R,R)-2,3-butanediol, and peak 4, nonanoic acid. (R,R) and (S,S)-2,3-butanediol were detected in samples irradiated at 8 kGy, which may indicate that irradiation induces isomerisation. When a single cut was transferred from the precolumn to the main column, 1-tetradecene, n-pentadecane, 8-heptadecene and 1-hexadecene were detected in irradiated samples. This simple and easy method allows detection of radiolytic markers and isomerisation of 2,3-butanediol during irradiation of food.

Direct ionic liquid extractant injection for volatile chemical analysis – a gas chromatography sampling technique

“…This approach eliminated potentially labour-and solvent-intensive sample preparation steps. 25 The PTV injector can decrease analyte discrimination during injection, provide better recoveries of thermally labile compounds, and increase the detectability of analytes via large volume introduction of liquid samples (e.g. up to 100 μL or more).…”