Easy mass spectrometry for metabolomics and quality control of vegetable and animal fats

• Published in: European journal of lipid science and technology 2010-04, Vol.112 (4), p.434-438
• Main Authors: Riccio, Maria Francesca, Saraiva, Sérgio A, Marques, Lygia Azevedo, Alberici, Rosana, Haddad, Renato, Moller, Jens C, Eberlin, Marcos N, Catharino, Rodrigo Ramos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ambient mass spectrometry; Biological and medical sciences; EASI-MS fingerprinting; Fat industries; Fatty acid; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Methods of analysis, processing and quality control, regulation, standards; Vegetable oil
• ISSN: 1438-7697; 1438-9312
• DOI: 10.1002/ejlt.200900090

Easy ambient sonic spray ionization (EASI), a novel desorption/ionization technique for ambient mass spectrometry analysis, is shown to permit the characterization of different types of vegetable and animal fats. The taxonomic markers of the oils, mainly fatty acids and phenols, are extracted with methanol/water (1:1) solution and made alkaline with NH₄OH, then placed and dried on the surface of a glass tip and directly analyzed by EASI-MS in the negative-ion mode. EASI provides a supersonic cloud of charged droplets that causes efficient desorption and ionization of the oil markers directly from the surface of the glass tip. As proof-of-principle cases, EASI(-)-MS was applied to genuine samples of olive oil, hazelnut oil, soybean oil, grape seed oil, canola oil, butter, and lard. Characteristic metabolomics EASI(-)-MS profiles of fatty acids and eventually phenols were obtained.