Toward High-Throughput Analysis of Aroma Compounds Using Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry: Screening of Key Food Odorants in Various Foods

Recent studies show the immense capacities of the unifiedquantitationof aroma and taste compounds using liquid chromatography-massspectrometry (LC-MS). The goal of this study was to highlightthe broad application of this unified method. Thus, a stable isotopedilution analysis quantification method of the most important keyfood odorants in various food categories by LC-MS was developed.Using the well-known derivatization agent 3-nitrophenylhydrazine forcarbonyl derivatization and a newly developed approach for alcoholand thiol derivatization, a method for the quantitation of 20 keyfood odorants was established. Intraday precision was determined tobe <= 26%, and interday precision was between 24 and 31%. Limitsof quantitation were determined between 0.014 and 283 mu g/kg.The work shows that a wide array of aroma compounds can be analyzedaccurately by LC-MS.

Automated summary

Recent studies have shown that liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) can be used to quantitate aroma and taste compounds. This study aimed to demonstrate the broad application of this method by developing a stable isotope dilution analysis quantification method for key food odorants. The researchers established a quantification method for 20 key food odorants using LC-MS, with good precision and limits of quantitation. This work highlights the accurate analysis of a wide range of aroma compounds by LC-MS.