Fast gas chromatography combined with a high-speed triple quadrupole mass spectrometer for the analysis of unknown and target citrus essential oil volatiles

The present research description is focused on the evaluation of a high-speed triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, carried out under moderately fast gas chromatography conditions (analysis time: 17 min). The mass spectrometric system is capable of operation under high-speed GC conditions, in both full-scan (maximum scan speed: 20,000 amu/s) and multiple reaction monitoring modalities. Furthermore, the triple quadrupole system can generate full scan and multiple reaction monitoring data simultaneously, also in a very rapid manner. A fast method was developed for the: (i) qualitative analysis of untargeted Citrus essential oil compounds, and (ii) the quali/quantitative analysis of targeted ones, namely three preservatives (o-phenylphenol, butylated hydroxytoluene, butylated hydroxy-anisole). The mass spectrometric system generated a more-than-sufficient number of data points/peak for both identification and quantification purposes. The level of sensitivity, reached through the multiple-reaction-monitoring side of the analysis, widely exceeded the requirements of current legislation. Method validation, related to the targeted analysis, was performed considering precision of retention times, peak areas and ion ratios; limits of detection/quantification, and accuracy were also measured.