title: A quasi non-destructive approach for amber geological provenance assessment based on head space solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
abstract: Head space (HS) solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to analyze the volatile fraction of ambers of different geological origin. In particular, Romanian (romanite) and Baltic (succinite) amber samples were studied. Both types of amber have nearly similar bulk chemical compositions and could probably reflect only some differences of paleobiological and/or diagenetic origin. The present study shows that amber head space fingerprint, obtained by SPME/GC-MS, can provide a simple and quasi non-destructive method capable of romanite/succinite differentiation. Among the numerous compounds present in the head space, a number of few informative variables could be selected that were able to differentiate the ambers as demonstrated by Principal Component and Cluster Analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy. Electronic address: inezdorothe.vanderwerf@uniba.it.
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: van der Werf
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aresta
authors.affiliation: Politehnica University of Bucharest, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, 1-7 Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Truică
authors.affiliation: Politehnica University of Bucharest, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, 1-7 Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Radu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Palmisano
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sabbatini
keywords: Amber; Gas chromatography; Geological origin; Mass spectrometry; Solid phase micro-extraction; Volatile fraction