Joe Binkley

In this study, general extract screening of food storage materials was done with nontargeted analytical methods to understand what analytes could potentially leach into food or beverages. GC and mass spectral deconvolution effectively separated analytes within the complex mixture and TOF-MS provided full mass range spectral data for identification. This workflow can be used for confident characterization of components present as extractables from food packaging materials.

The enhanced resolution of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) was combined with the increased resolving power, speed, and mass accuracy of the Pegasus® HRT's mass analyzer to confidently characterize molecules in light cycle oil (LCO) and vacuum gas oil (VGO). Optimized chromatographic and mass spectrometry parameters were implemented to improve data acquisition, processing, and heteroatomic speciation of these light to midlevel petroleum fractions. Software tools were utilized to process the data and facilitate robust compound identifications. GCxGC-HRT data was processed using comprehensive Peak Find and resulted in comprehensive characterization of molecules in LCO and VGO samples. Compound classes consisted of, but were not limited to alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics, benzothiophenes, and carbazoles. Selective processing of alkylbenzothiophenes and dibenzothiophenes was conducted by retrospectively processing data using rapid two-dimensional, accurate mass Target Analyte Finding (TAF).