First identification of dimethoxycinnamic acids in human plasma after coffee intake by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

There is a substantial amount of published literature on the bioavailability of various coffee components including the most abundant metabolites, caffeic and ferulic acids. Surprisingly, to date, the appearance of dimethoxycinnamic acid derivatives in humans has not been reported despite the fact that methylated form of catechol-type polyphenols could help maintain, modify or even improve their biological activities. This study reports an LC-MS method for the detection of dimethoxycinnamic acid in human plasma after treatment with an esterase. Liquid chromatography, including the combination of methanol and acetonitrile as organic eluent, was optimized to resolve all interferences and enable reliable detection and identification of 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic and 3,4-dimethoxy-dihydrocinnamic acids. In addition to the good mass accuracy achieved (better than 5 ppm), tandem mass spectrometric and co-chromatography experiments further confirmed the identity of the compounds. The optimized method was applied to analyze samples obtained immediately, 1 and 10 h after coffee ingestion. The results show that in particular 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid appears in high abundance (～380 nM at 60 min) in plasma upon coffee intake, indicating that it is important to consider these derivatives in future bioavailability and bioefficacy studies.     

基于超疏水高黏附结构的痕量农药分子现场检测SERS基底研究

多种农药,包括孔雀石绿（MG）作为禁用兽药,存在食用致癌的风险。由于MG低廉的价格和极好的药效,在渔业养殖中一直被不法商贩非法使用,使得鱼类生鲜中时有MG残留检出。针对MG分子痕量残留的检测,目前一般是抽取少量养殖水样,再利用高效液相色谱柱、液相色谱-光谱等方法来评估其是否超标。这类传统的检测方法一般需要依赖价格昂贵的大型设备,且检测过程操作繁琐复杂,单次检测耗时长、价格高,因而与农贸市场中商品流通量大、速度快、价格需亲民低廉等特点和要求不相符合。近年来,表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）检测技术以及便携式拉曼光谱仪的出现,有望实现对痕量农药分子的现场快速检测,进而很好地解决这一问题。SERS检测技术利用金属纳米结构的表面等离激元效应感应位于其结构表面附近的分子,得到分子种类和浓度信息。为了降低可检测的浓度极限,一般会在SERS基底上利用咖啡环效应或其他手段将待测分子蒸发富集,以获得足够高的信号强度。针对亲水基底,液滴与基底相接触后,会在基底表面摊开,使其分布面积扩大,导致其咖啡环周长变长,分子分布浓度随之降低。而当采用疏水基底富集时,由于常规的疏水基底表面黏附性小,液滴在其表面处于随处滚动无法抓取的状态,极大增加了操作的难度。以MG分子痕量残留的检测为例,由于农贸市场人员众多、无专业实验平台,磕碰撞击时有发生,在此环境下采用疏水SERS基底对农药分子进行检测显然是不可取的。该研究提出一种基于超疏水高黏附纳米森林结构的SERS基底用于痕量MG分子的快速现场检测。相比于超疏水SERS基底,所提出的超疏水高黏附基底利用其高黏附性可牢固抓取待测液滴,解决了以往超疏水基底在实际现场检测中存在液滴滚动无法操作的问题。此外,与亲水基底相比,超疏水高黏附基底由于接触角大,可将咖啡环面积缩小5.73倍,继而使分子的富集浓度提高5.73倍,最终使检测极限浓度降低了至少两个数量级。研究所提出的超疏水高黏附SERS基底有望在痕量农药分子快速现场检测中得到应用。     

Characterization of Basil Volatile Fraction and Study of Its Agronomic Variation by ASCA

Basil is a plant known worldwide for its culinary and health attributes. It counts more than a hundred and fifty species and many more chemo-types due to its easy cross-breeds. Each species and each chemo-type have a typical aroma pattern and selecting the proper one is crucial for the food industry. Twelve basil varieties have been studied over three years (2018–2020), as have four different cuts. To characterize the aroma profile, nine typical basil flavour molecules have been selected using a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry coupled with an olfactometer (GC–MS/O). The concentrations of the nine selected molecules were measured by an ultra-fast CG e-nose and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to detect possible differences among the samples. The PCA results highlighted differences between harvesting years, mainly for 2018, whereas no observable clusters were found concerning varieties and cuts, probably due to the combined effects of the investigated factors. For this reason, the ANOVA Simultaneous Component Analysis (ASCA) methodology was applied on a balanced a posteriori designed dataset. All the considered factors and interactions were statistically significant (p < 0.05) in explaining differences between the basil aroma profiles, with more relevant effects of variety and year.     

A Rapid Gas-Chromatography/Mass-Spectrometry Technique for Determining Odour Activity Values of Volatile Compounds in Plant Proteins: Soy,and Allergen-Free Pea and Brown Rice Protein

Plant-based protein sources have a characteristic aroma that limits their usage in various meat-alternative formulations. Despite being the most popular plant-based protein, the allergenicity of soy protein severely restricts the potential adoption of soy protein as an animal substitute. Thereby, allergen-free plant-protein sources need to be characterized. Herein, we demonstrate a rapid solid-phase-microextraction gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) technique for comparing the volatile aroma profile concentration of two different allergen-free plant-protein sources (brown rice and pea) and comparing them with soy protein. The extraction procedure consisted of making a 1:7 w/v aqueous plant protein slurry, and then absorbing the volatile compounds on an SPME fibre under agitation for 10 min at 40 °C, which was subsequently injected onto a GC column coupled to an MS system. Observed volatile concentrations were used in conjunction with odour threshold values to generate a Total Volatile Aroma Score for each protein sample. A total of 76 volatile compounds were identified. Aldehydes and furans were determined to be the most dominant volatiles present in the plant proteins. Both brown rice protein and pea protein contained 64% aldehydes and 18% furans, with minor contents of alcohols, ketones and other compounds. On the other hand, soy protein consisted of fewer aldehydes (46%), but a more significant proportion of furans (42%). However, in terms of total concentration, brown rice protein contained the highest intensity and number of volatile compounds. Based on the calculated odour activity values of the detected compounds, our study concludes that pea proteins could be used as a suitable alternative to soy proteins in applications for allergen-free vegan protein products without interfering with the taste or flavour of the product.     

Head space gas chromatography with glass capillaries using an automatic electropneumatic dosing system

Head space GC using a special electropneumatic sampling system works well in combination with glass capillaries. Because a homogenous gas mixture is already present most problems inherent with inlet splitters are thus avoided. In cases where the high vapor pressure of the sample can cause problems with the pressure controlled sampling system, the use of narrow bore glass capillaries provides the necessary inlet pressure. The use of this powerful and convenient analytical tool for water pollution analysis, flavour analysis and the analysis of volatiles in crude oil samples is shown by examples.     

Quantitative solid phase microextraction – Gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis of five megastigmatrienone isomers in aged wine

Megastigmatrienone is a key flavor compound in tobacco. It has also been detected in wine, where it may contribute to a tobacco/incense aroma, but its importance and concentration in wines had never previously been evaluated.     

Chemical immobilization of crosslinked polymeric ionic liquids on nitinol wires produces highly robust sorbent coatings for solid-phase microextraction

Super elastic nitinol (NiTi) wires were exploited as highly robust supports for three distinct crosslinked polymeric ionic liquid (PIL)-based coatings in solid-phase microextraction (SPME). The oxidation of NiTi wires in a boiling (30% w/w) H₂O₂ solution and subsequent derivatization in vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS) allowed for vinyl moieties to be appended to the surface of the support. UV-initiated on-fiber copolymerization of the vinyl-substituted NiTi support with monocationic ionic liquid (IL) monomers and dicationic IL crosslinkers produced a crosslinked PIL-based network that was covalently attached to the NiTi wire. This alteration alleviated receding of the coating from the support, which was observed for an analogous crosslinked PIL applied on unmodified NiTi wires. A series of demanding extraction conditions, including extreme pH, pre-exposure to pure organic solvents, and high temperatures, were applied to investigate the versatility and robustness of the fibers. Acceptable precision of the model analytes was obtained for all fibers under these conditions. Method validation by examining the relative recovery of a homologous group of phthalate esters (PAEs) was performed in drip-brewed coffee (maintained at 60 °C) by direct immersion SPME. Acceptable recoveries were obtained for most PAEs in the part-per-billion level, even in this exceedingly harsh and complex matrix.     

Fingerprint developing of coffee flavor by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and combined chemometrics methods

In this paper, chromatographic fingerprint was firstly used for quality control of tobacco flavors. Based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and combined chemometrics methods, a simple, reliable and reproducible method for developing chromatographic fingerprint of coffee flavor, one of tobacco flavors, was described. Six coffee flavor samples obtained from different locations were used to establish the fingerprint. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of coffee flavor sample from Shenzhen was completed with the help of subwindow factor analysis (SFA). Fifty-two components of 68 separated constituents in coffee flavor sample from Shenzhen, accounting for 88.42% of the total content, were identified and quantified. Then, spectral correlative chromatography (SCC) was used to extract the common peaks from other five studied coffee flavor samples. Thirty-eight components were found to exist in all six samples. Finally, the method validation of fingerprint analysis was performed based on the relative retention time and the relative peak area of common peaks, sample stability and similarity analysis. The similarities of six coffee flavor samples were more than 0.9104 and showed that samples from different locations were consistent to some extent. The developed chromatographic fingerprint was successfully used to differentiate coffee flavor from coco flavor and some little difference sample prepared with coffee flavor and coco flavor by both similarity comparison and principal component projection analysis. The developed method can be used for quality control of coffee flavor.     

云南怒江地区芒果香味的分析

用ＧＣ／ＭＳ方法分析测定了采自云南怒江农场的芒果属（ＭａｎｇｉｆｅｒａＬ）的３个品种三年芒、吕宋芒和马切苏芒的主要香味物质。每个品种的香味成分均在２０个以上。对主要成分进行了半定量计算,结果表明三年芒主要含有异松油烯、γ－羟辛酸内酯、３,７－二甲基－１,３,６－辛三烯、γ－羟己酸内酯、石竹烯、２,６－二叔丁基－４－甲基苯酚;吕宋芒主要含α－蒎烯、蒈烯、２,６－二叔丁基－４－甲基苯酚、石竹烯、γ－羟己酸内酯。