Analysis of volatile compounds in Chinese dry-cured hams by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry. (June 2018) - Wang, Wenli
Abstract: A microwave assisted extraction method coupled with solvent assisted flavor evaporation (MAE-SAFE) was used to extract the volatiles from three-selected Chinese dry-cured hams ( Jinhua ham, Xuanwei ham and Rugao ham ). Extracts were analyzed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry ( GC × GC/HR-TOFMS ), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry ( GC–MS ), respectively. A total 165 volatile compounds were identified by GC × GC/HR-TOFMS while only 50 compounds were identified by GC–MS. Principal component analysis showed that the specific dominant volatile compounds were [S-(R*, R*)]-2, 3-butanediol (26.39%) and 3-methyl-butanoic acid (7.53%) for Jinhua ham, were [R-(R*, R*)]-2, 3-butanediol (16.85%) and acetic acid (8.25%) for Rugao ham and were dihydro-4-hydroxy-2(3H)-furanone (11.67%) and hexanoic acid (8.24%) for Xuanwei ham. The results not only provided a fast and mild extraction method to analyze the volatiles in non-volatile food matrices, but also represented the detailed information of volatile profiles of Chinese dry-cured hams. Highlights: MAE-SAFE was used to extract the volatiles from Chinese dry-cured hams. The problem of overlapped peaks in GC–MS was resolved by GC × GC/HR-TOFMS. The dominant volatile compounds in hams were further confirmed by PCA. GC × GC/HR-TOFMS can detect more informatic and valuable polar compounds.