Use of flow injection atmospheric pressure photoionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry for fast olive oil fingerprinting

Abstract

The recently introduced technique of an atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) source coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QqTOFMS) has been applied to fast olive oil fingerprinting on the basis of the accurate mass measurements obtained with this instrumentation. The key compounds can be characterized as [M+H]⁺ (produced by proton transfer) or as [M]^+. (by charge transfer) ions in the mass spectra. [M+H]⁺ ions, however, show higher abundance, especially for triacylglycerols. Other ions present in APPI-MS are the acylium ion [R_iCO]⁺ and [R_iCOH₂O]⁺. This latter ion is absent in the electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS spectra, and this represents valuable complementary information. Several critical parameters in the APPI source were optimized such as LC eluent composition, ion spray voltage and, especially, declustering potential. APPI-QqTOFMS allows easy discrimination among different edible oils: olive, extra virgin olive, olive-pomace, hazelnut, sunflower, corn and several mixed oils, with high throughput (approximately 1 min per sample). Cluster analysis was applied to obtain the best experimental conditions for oil discrimination on the basis of declustering potential. Principal components analyses of these APPI-MS spectra show that the approach can be used for studies of olive oil adulteration with other oils, even in the case of hazelnut oil that exhibits a high chemical similarity with olive oil. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.