Varietal characterization of hop (Humulus lupulus L.) by GC-MS analysis of hop cone extracts.

An approach is described for use in the varietal characterization of hop (Humulus lupulus L.) varieties. The study focuses on commercial hop varieties and was timed to coincide with the 2008 commercial hop harvest in Tasmania, Australia. Analysis of hop extracts was performed using GC-MS. A 60 m capillary column was employed to increase efficiency to permit the use of a quadrupole mass spectrometer in place of a time of flight mass spectrometer that is more commonly used for this type of analysis. A set of characterization functions were derived from discriminant analysis which were highly suitable for varietal characterization of the eight commercial varieties included in the study, namely Willamette, Victoria, Pride of Ringwood, Cascade, Southern Hallertau, Millennium, Southern Saaz, and Super Pride.

High-speed, low-pressure gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for essential oil analysis.

Analysis of parsley and fennel essential oils was performed by using low-pressure gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The low-pressure instrument configuration was achieved by fitting a GC-MS instrument with a 530microm I.D. capillary column and an appropriate capillary restrictor at the inlet of the column. Comparison of the performance of the low-pressure GC-MS setup was made with fast GC-MS using a narrow-bore capillary column. By comparing the two approaches side-by-side the benefits of low-pressure GC-MS for characterisation of moderately complex essential oils comprising less than 50 detectable components can be fully appreciated. Although efficiency is sacrificed, the improved sample capacity of the 530microm I.D. column leads to higher peak intensities and in-turn better mass spectral library matching thus providing highly satisfactory results.

Prediction of analyte retention for ion chromatography separations performed using elution profiles comprising multiple isocratic and gradient steps.

This study addresses the simulation of ion chromatographic (IC) separations performed under conditions where the elution profile consists of a sequence of isocratic and gradient elution steps (referred to as "complex elution profiles"). First, models for prediction of retention under gradient elution conditions in IC were evaluated using an extensive database of gradient elution retention data. It is shown that one such model is preferred on the basis that it can be used to predict gradient retention times on the basis of isocratic input data. A method is then proposed for using this model for complex elution profiles whereby each step of the elution profile is treated separately and analyte movement through the column is mapped. An empirically based algorithm for predicting peak width under complex elution conditions is also proposed. Evaluation of the suggested approaches was undertaken on a set of 24 analyte anions and 13 analyte cations on 5 different Dionex columns using a range of 5-step complex elution profiles that gave R2 values for correlations between predicted and observed retention times of 0.987 for anions and 0.997 for cations. The simulation of separations of anions and cations using a 3-step complex elution profile is demonstrated, with good correlation between observed and predicted chromatograms. The proposed approach is useful for the rapid development of separations when complex elution profiles are used in IC.