Omega-7 (n-7) phospholipids were
bioactive substances in marine
animals. In this study, a fast lipidomics phenotyping approach for
real-time in situ screening of n-7 phospholipids
in five kinds of economic seafood, salmon, prawn, bluefin tuna, hairtail,
and butterfish, was established using iKnife rapid evaporative ionization
mass spectrometry (REIMS). The n-7 phospholipids were structurally
characterized and quantitatively analyzed, and the profiles were statistically
analyzed by multivariate recognition analysis. It indicated that the
difference of n-7 phospholipids in seafood samples was significant
(p < 0.05), with R
2(cum) and Q
2(cum) values of >0.9.
The
proportion of n-7 phospholipids in salmon was the highest (20.43%),
followed by bluefin tuna, prawn, hairtail, and butterfish. The ions
of m/z 742.54 (PC 16:1–18:1),
768.55 (PC 16:1–20:2), 697.48 (PE 16:1–18:1), and 699.48
(PE 16:1–18:0) were the main n-7 phospholipids. The effectiveness
of iKnife REIMS was further verified by hydrophilic interaction chromatography
mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. The results demonstrated
that proposed iKnife REIMS was an excellent technique for front-line
screening of n-7 phospholipids in a large variety of marine biological
resources.