Targeted multidimensional gas chromatography using a heart-cutting device and cryogenic focusing for the determination of benzophenone derivatives in foodstuffs

Abstract

Photoinitiators are used to promote the polymerization process during the curing of varnishes or inks on cartonboard packaging. Depending on storage conditions and shelf life, these substances are able to migrate through the packaging layer into the foodstuff. This type of contamination phenomenon is therefore becoming a critical issue in terms of food safety. In order to tackle this problem, a fast and selective method was developed for the determination of benzophenone and three methylbenzophenone isomers in cereal-based foodstuffs and their cardboard packaging. Food samples or packages were efficiently extracted by pressurized liquid extraction using acetonitrile, and the extracts were directly injected onto the analytical system. The analysis was performed by multidimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using a heart-cutting approach to reduce the background noise from complex matrices. The strategy employed two distinct cuts each containing its proper deuterated internal standard leading to accurate quantification. By integrating a cryofocusing effect, an enhancement in signal/noise ratio was achieved by a factor >10, which markedly decreased the sensitivity threshold. Moreover, baseline separation of the critical isomers allowed their unequivocal determination. The method was fully validated on cereal-based foodstuffs based upon an analysis of variance, and excellent performances were obtained at the decision limit making this method well suited for official food controls.

Method for analysis of 68 organic contaminants in food contact paper using gas and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

“…coatings, adhesives, printing inks and rubber, as an important source of chemical contamination of food. Recent articles have reported occurrence of phthalates (Bononi & Tateo, 2009;Zhang, Noonan, & Begley, 2008), bisphenols (P erez-Palacios, Fern andez-Recio, Moreta, & Tena, 2012), ink photoinitiators (Bugey, Janin, Edder, & Bieri, 2013;Koivikko et al, 2010), fluorescent whitening agents (Chen & Ding, 2006), polyfluorinated compounds (PFC) (Begley et al, 2005;Poothong, Boontanon, & Boontanon, 2012;Trier, Granby, & Christensen, 2011) and biocides (Domeño, Munizza, & Nerín, 2005; Votavov a, Hanu sov a, V apenka, Dobi a s, & Kvasni cka, 2014). Furthermore, EFSA (2012) believes that recycled paper and board represent an important source of mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) including both saturated and aromatic fractions (MOSH and MOAH, respectively).…”

“…GCeMS has been frequently used for the analysis of phthalates (Bononi & Tateo, 2009;Zhang et al, 2008) and PAH or MOAH (Biedermann & Grob, 2015;Bordajandi, Dabrio, Ulberth, & Emons, 2008;Chalbot, Vei, Lykoudis, & Kavouras, 2006), HPLCeMS/MS for bisphenols (Gallart-Ayala, Moyano, & Galceran, 2010;P erez-Palacios et al, 2012) and PFC (Begley et al, 2005Poothong et al, 2012;Trier et al, 2011), whereas ink photoinitiators have been analyzed by both techniques (Bugey et al, 2013;Sagratini et al, 2008;Shen, Lian, Ding, Xu, & Shen, 2009). Derivatization procedures were also developed for bisphenols and PFCA to make them amenable for GCeMS (Dufkov a, Cabala, & Sev cík, 2012;Viñas, Campillo, Martínez-Castillo, & Hern andez-C ordoba, 2010).…”

“…Solvent extraction using e.g. ethanol-water or methanol-water mixtures for PFC (Begley et al, 2005;Poothong et al, 2012;Trier et al, 2011), methanol for bisphenols (P erez-Palacios et al, 2012), acetonitrile for photoinitiators (Bugey et al, 2013;Koivikko et al, 2010) and dichloromethane for phthalates (Zhang et al, 2008) has served for the isolation of target compounds from paper matrix. Headspace SPME application for the GCeMS analysis of diisobutyl phthalate in pizza boxes was also described by Bononi and Tateo (2009).…”

Progress in the development of polymeric and multifunctional photoinitiators

“…Based on these results, the authors concluded that 1-2 % of the BP in the packaging migrated to the food. For foods where the BP levels were below the specific migration limit of 0.6 mg/kg, levels in the corresponding packaging ranged from 5 to 7 mg/kg [116,117]. Other studies have investigated levels of BP in the packaging of a variety of food products [118][119][120][121].…”

Solid-phase extraction based on a molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective determination of four benzophenones in tap and river water

“…A lot of work has been done to analyze and investigate the BPs and a variety of determination methods have been used, such as GC , HPLC , GC–MS and LC–MS . Despite having high sensitivity and low detection limits, these methods still need sample enrichment and purification process before analysis of complex real samples.…”