Comprehensive and rapid analysis of shea butter extracts by supercritical fluid chromatography-charged aerosol detection-ion mobility high-resolution mass spectrometry.
Abstract
Distinguishing high- from poor-quality vegetable oils requires accurate and reliable characterisation. However, current vegetable oil analysis laboratories rely on multiple complementary techniques and methods for the characterisation of different parts of the complex oil, resulting in long analysis times and high costs. This study aims to develop one single comprehensive and rapid method for shea butter, based on supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with charged aerosol detection (CAD) and trapped ion mobility time-of-flight (timsTOF) mass spectrometry (MS). The method should yield rapid compound class separation, quantification of each class, and identification of species within the class. Baseline resolution among compound classes in shea butter extracts was achieved with two polar diethyl amine columns coupled in series. The CAD response uniformity of species in the same class was investigated to assess if one standard per class quantification is possible. A CAD evaporation temperature of 25 °C, power function value of 1, together with polynomial regression were essential for achieving high correlation coefficients for the calibration curves and uniform response factors. Identification of species within classes was achieved using multidimensional data from the hyphenated system. This included retention time, m/z, MS/MS spectra, collision cross section values, and signal intensity. In total, 57 features were identified in the shea butter extract, many of which have been previously reported. Precision, quantification limit, and bias were validated and compared to standard methods when possible. The developed SFC-CAD-timsTOF method provides rapid compositional characterization, simplified class-based quantification using few chemical standards, and analytical performance similar to existing standard methods.
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