Current Developments in Analyzing Food Volatiles by Multidimensional Gas Chromatographic Techniques

This paper presents current developments and future perspectives on the spread of advanced analytical tasks in the field of food volatile analysis. The topics outlined comprise (a) recent advances on miniaturized sampling techniques; (b) the potential and challenges of multidimensional gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometric detection for volatile identification and quantitation in samples with complex matrices; (c) the potential of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography in fingerprinting studies, in particular for classifying complex samples in routine analysis; and (d) the key role of dedicated software tools for data elaboration with comprehensive two-dimensional separations

Effectiveness of Global, Low-Degree Polynomial Transformations for GCxGC Data Alignment

As columns age and differ between systems, retention times for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) may vary between runs. To properly analyze GCxGC chromatograms, it often is desirable to align the retention times of chromatographic features, such as analyte peaks, between chromatograms. Previous work by the authors has shown that global, low-degree polynomial transformation functions, namely affine, second-degree polynomial, and third-degree polynomial, are effective for aligning pairs of two-dimensional chromatograms acquired with dual second columns and detectors (GC×2GC). This work assesses the experimental performance of these global methods on more general GCxGC chromatogram pairs and compares their performance to that of a recent, robust, local alignment algorithm for GCxGC data [Gros Anal. Chem. 2012, 84, 9033]. Measuring performance with the root-mean-square (RMS) residual differences in retention times for matched peaks suggests that global, low-degree polynomial transformations outperform the local algorithm given a sufficiently large set of alignment points, and are able to improve misalignment by over 95% based on a lower-bound benchmark of inherent variability. However, with small sets of alignment points, the local method demonstrated lower error rates (although with greater computational overhead). For GCxGC chromatogram pairs with only slight initial misalignment, none of the global or local methods performed well. In some cases with initial misalignment near the inherent variability of the system, these methods worsened alignment, suggesting that it may be better not to perform alignment in such cases

Reliable Peak Selection for Multisample Analysis with Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Chromatography

Comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography is a powerful technology for analyzing the patterns of constituent compounds in complex samples, but matching chromatographic features for comparative analysis across large sample sets is difficult. Various methods have been described for pairwise peak matching between two chromatograms, but the peaks indicated by these pairwise matches commonly are incomplete or inconsistent across many chromatograms. This paper describes a new, automated method for postprocessing the results of pairwise peak matching to address incomplete and inconsistent peak matches and thereby select chromatographic peaks that reliably correspond across many chromatograms. Reliably corresponding peaks can be used both for directly comparing relative compositions across large numbers of samples and for aligning chromatographic data for comprehensive comparative analyses. To select reliable features for a set of chromatograms, the Consistent Cliques Method (CCM) represents all peaks from all chromatograms and all pairwise peak matches in a graph, finds the maximal cliques, and then combines cliques with shared peaks to extract reliable features. The parameters of CCM are the minimum number of chromatograms with complete pairwise peak matches and the desired number of reliable peaks. A particular threshold for the minimum number of chromatograms with complete pairwise matches ensures that there are no conflicts among the pairwise matches for reliable peaks. Experimental results with samples of complex bio-oils analyzed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) coupled with mass spectrometry (GCxGC–MS) indicate that CCM provides a good foundation for comparative analysis of complex chemical mixtures

Comprehensive Chemical Fingerprinting of High-Quality Cocoa at Early Stages of Processing: Effectiveness of Combined Untargeted and Targeted Approaches for Classification and Discrimination

This study investigates chemical information of volatile fractions of high-quality cocoa (<i>Theobroma cacao</i> L. Malvaceae) from different origins (Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Columbia, Java, Trinidad, and Sao Tomè) produced for fine chocolate. This study explores the evolution of the entire pattern of volatiles in relation to cocoa processing (raw, roasted, steamed, and ground beans). Advanced chemical fingerprinting (e.g., combined untargeted and targeted fingerprinting) with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry allows advanced pattern recognition for classification, discrimination, and sensory-quality characterization. The entire data set is analyzed for 595 reliable two-dimensional peak regions, including 130 known analytes and 13 potent odorants. Multivariate analysis with unsupervised exploration (principal component analysis) and simple supervised discrimination methods (Fisher ratios and linear regression trees) reveal informative patterns of similarities and differences and identify characteristic compounds related to sample origin and manufacturing step

Alignment for Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography with Dual Secondary Columns and Detectors

In each sample run, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with dual secondary columns and detectors (GC × 2GC) provides complementary information in two chromatograms generated by its two detectors. For example, a flame ionization detector (FID) produces data that is especially effective for quantification and a mass spectrometer (MS) produces data that is especially useful for chemical-structure elucidation and compound identification. The greater information capacity of two detectors is most useful for difficult analyses, such as metabolomics, but using the joint information offered by the two complex two-dimensional chromatograms requires data fusion. In the case that the second columns are equivalent but flow conditions vary (e.g., related to the operative pressure of their different detectors), data fusion can be accomplished by aligning the chromatographic data and/or chromatographic features such as peaks and retention-time windows. Chromatographic alignment requires a mapping from the retention times of one chromatogram to the retention times of the other chromatogram. This paper considers general issues and experimental performance for global two-dimensional mapping functions to align pairs of GC × 2GC chromatograms. Experimental results for GC × 2GC with FID and MS for metabolomic analyses of human urine samples suggest that low-degree polynomial mapping functions out-perform affine transformation (as measured by root-mean-square residuals for matched peaks) and achieve performance near a lower-bound benchmark of inherent variability. Third-degree polynomials slightly out-performed second-degree polynomials in these results, but second-degree polynomials performed nearly as well and may be preferred for parametric and computational simplicity as well as robustness