title: Determination of 2-alkylcyclobutanones by combining precolumn derivatization with 1-naphthalenyl hydrazine and ultra-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.
abstract: 2-Alkylcyclobutanones (2-ACBs) are uniquely formed when triglycerides-containing food products are exposed to ionizing radiation. Thus, 2-ACBs have been used as marker molecules to identify irradiated food. Most methods to determine 2-ACBs involve mass spectrometric detection after chromatographic separation. The spectrofluorometer is rarely used to determine 2-ACBs because these molecules do not fluoresce. In this study, we developed an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method to determine 2-ACBs. 2-ACBs were converted into fluorophores after reacting with 1-naphthalenyl hydrazine to facilitate their sensitive and selective detection using a fluorescence detector (FLD). Analysis of 2-ACBs using our developed UPLC-FLD method allows sensitive determination of 2-ACBs at a detection limit of 2 ng 2-ACBs per g of fat (30 pg/injection), which is significantly lower than that of existing analytical methods. After validation for trueness and precision, the method was applied to γ-irradiated chicken samples to determine their 2-ACB content. Comparative studies employing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method revealed no systematic difference between the two methods, thereby demonstrating that the proposed UPLC-FLD method can be suitably used to determine 2-ACBs in irradiated foodstuffs. Graphical Abstract Determination of radiation-induced food-borne 2-dodecylcyclobutanone and 2-tetradecylcyclobutanone by combining 1-naphthalenyl hydrazine derivatization and ultra-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Academic Building, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Xiangpeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery, Ministry of Education, and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hubei, 430071, China.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery, Ministry of Education, and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hubei, 430071, China.
authors.forename: Lianrong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, Gaobeidian North Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100123, China.
authors.forename: Hanxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Academic Building, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong. chanwan@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Wan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002074:Butanones / Q000032:analysis*; D002645:Chickens; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005720:Gamma Rays; D006834:Hydrazines / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D002074:Butanones; D006834:Hydrazines
keywords: 2-Alkylcyclobutanones; Fluorescence; Irradiated food; Precolumn derivatization; Ultra-performance liquid chromatography