Analysis of volatile organic compounds and potential odour compounds in food contact paperboard using headspace two-dimensional GC-QTOF-MS

Abstract

The objective was to establish a robust and reliable approach for the characterisation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in food contact paperboard. This was achieved through the utilisation of headspace solid-phase microextraction in tandem with comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) gas chromatography (GC) and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC × GC-QTOF-MS). The experimental parameters were optimised, involving the use of a DVB/C-WR/PDMS fibre at a temperature of 80 °C for a duration of 30 min. A total of 344 VOCs comprising aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, ethers, esters, alkanes and aromatic compounds, were tentatively identified in the samples. Twelve compounds believed to be from biogenic sources had a high odour impact making them major contributors to potential taint from the paperboard samples. Significant attention should be devoted to five compounds namely, 2-methylnaphthalene, 2-pentyl-furan, furfural, 1-octen-3-one and 1-octen-3-ol due to their potential adverse impact on the organoleptic qualities of packaged food items and their potential toxicity.

Abbreviations: C-WR: carbon wide range; DVB: divinylbenzene; GC-MS: gas chromatography - mass spectrometry; GCxGC-QTOF-MS: comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time-of-flight - mass spectrometry; HS-SPME: headspace - solid phase microextraction; LOD: limit of detection; LOQ: limit of quantification; OAV: odor activity values; PDMS: polydimethylsiloxane; RI: retention index; TTC: threshold of toxicological concern; VOC: volatile organic compound

Keywords:

• Headspace solid phase microextraction
• comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatograph
• time of flight mass spectrometry
• food contact paperboard
• volatile organic compounds

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article.

Credit authorship contribution statement

Dan Li: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft. Ying Zeng: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft. Zhi-Kang Ye: Data curation, Writing – Original Draft. Han-ke Li: Visualisation, Writing – Review and Editing. Yuzhe Li: Visualisation, Writing – Review and Editing. Ben Dong: Visualisation, Writing – Review and Editing. Qi-Zhi, Su: Visualisation, Writing – Review and Editing. Qin-Bao Lin: Supervision, Writing – Review and Editing. Jing Xiao: Project administration, Supervision, Resources, Writing –Review and Editing. Huai-Ning Zhong: Supervision, Resources, Writing – Review and Editing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No.2022YFF0607202) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Youths (No.42207550).