title: Detailed elucidation of hydrocarbon contamination in food products by using solid-phase extraction and comprehensive gas chromatography with dual detection.
abstract: The present work is focused on the development/optimization of a comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography method, with dual detection [flame ionization (FID) and mass spectrometric], for the simultaneous identification and quantification of mineral-oil contaminants in a variety of food products. The two main classes of contaminants, namely saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons, were previously fractionated on a manually-packed silver silica solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. The quantitative results were compared with those obtained by performing a large volume injection, in a GC-FID system, after the same SPE process and by an on-line liquid-gas chromatography method, with very similar results observed. The presence of a series of unknown compounds, that appeared when using the off-line methods, was investigated using the mass spectrometric data, and were tentatively-identified as esterified fatty acids, most probably derived from vegetable oil based ink.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2/A, 33100 Udine, Italy. Electronic address: giopurcaro@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Purcaro
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Farmaco-chimico, Facoltà di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Messina, viale Annunziata, 98168 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Peter Q
authors.initials: PQ
authors.lastname: Tranchida
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2/A, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barp
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2/A, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moret
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2/A, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Lanfranco S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Farmaco-chimico, Facoltà di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Messina, viale Annunziata, 98168 Messina, Italy; Centro Integrato di Ricerca (C.I.R.), Università Campus-Biomedico, Via Álvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mondello
mesh_terms: D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005504:Food Analysis; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008899:Mineral Oil / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry; D012835:Silver Nitrate / Q000737:chemistry; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D010938:Plant Oils; D008899:Mineral Oil; D012835:Silver Nitrate