title: Rapid discrimination of fatty acid composition in fats and oils by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.
abstract: Fatty acids in 42 types of saponified vegetable and animal oils were analyzed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for the development of their rapid discrimination. The compositions were compared with those analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), a more conventional method used in the discrimination of fats and oils. Fatty acids extracted with 2-propanol were-detected as deprotonated molecular ions ([M-H]-) in the ESI-MS spectra of the negative-ion mode. The composition obtained by ESI-MS corresponded to the data of the total ion chromatograms by GC-MS. The ESI-MS analysis discriminated the fats and oils within only one minute after starting the measurement. The detection limit for the analysis was approximately 10(-10) g as a sample amount analyzed for one minute. This result showed that the ESI-MS analysis discriminated the fats and oils much more rapidly and sensitively than the GC-MS analysis, which requires several tens of minutes and approximately 10(-9) g. Accordingly, the ESI-MS analysis was found to be suitable for a screening procedure for the discrimination of fats and oils.
authors.affiliation: Criminal Investigation Laboratory, Metropolitan Police Department, Chiyoda, Tokyo 100-8929, Japan. shkurata@jcom.home.ne.jp
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurata
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagai
mesh_terms: D005223:Fats / Q000737:chemistry*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D009821:Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005223:Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids; D009821:Oils