title: Simultaneous quantification of the boar-taint compounds skatole and androstenone by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and multivariate data analysis.
abstract: This study investigates the feasibility of using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for the quantification of absolute levels of the boar-taint compounds skatole and androstenone in porcine fat. By investigation of different types of nanoparticles, pH and aggregating agents, an optimized environment that promotes SERS of the analytes was developed and tested with different multivariate spectral pre-processing techniques, and this was combined with variable selection on a series of analytical standards. The resulting method exhibited prediction errors (root mean square error of cross validation, RMSECV) of 2.4 × 10(-6) M skatole and 1.2 × 10(-7) M androstenone, with a limit of detection corresponding to approximately 2.1 × 10(-11) M for skatole and approximately 1.8 × 10(-10) for androstenone. The method was subsequently tested on porcine fat extract, leading to prediction errors (RMSECV) of 0.17 μg/g for skatole and 1.5 μg/g for androstenone. It is clear that this optimized SERS method, when combined with multivariate analysis, shows great potential for optimization into an on-line application, which will be the first of its kind, and opens up possibilities for simultaneous detection of other meat-quality metabolites or pathogen markers. Graphical abstract Artistic rendering of a laser-illuminated gold colloid sphere with skatole and androstenone adsorbed on the surface.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 26, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark. kms@food.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Klavs M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5117-1315
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Sørensen
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK.
authors.forename: Chloe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Westley
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK.
authors.forename: Royston
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goodacre
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 26, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Søren Balling
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Engelsen
mesh_terms: D000736:Androstenes / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D005223:Fats / Q000737:chemistry*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000069466:Red Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D012862:Skatole / Q000032:analysis*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D034421:Sus scrofa
chemical_list: D000736:Androstenes; D005223:Fats; C000214:androst-16-en-3-one; D012862:Skatole
keywords: Androstenone; Boar taint; Multivariate calibration; Porcine fat; Skatole; Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)