On-line reversed-phase liquid chromatography-gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for enantiomeric analysis of chiral compounds in fruit beverages

A method based on the on-line coupling of reversed phase liquid chromatography with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (RPLC-GCMS) for the chiral evaluation of characteristic constituents of fruit beverage aroma was investigated. The consideration of a variety of parameters involved in the transfer step allowed to achieve relative standard deviations ranging from 0.4 to 10% in most cases and detection limits from 0.2 to 2.5 mg/l. By applying the developed method to fruit beverages, racemic mixtures of ethyl 2-methylbutanoate and gamma-nonalactone were found. This fact suggests the eventual addition of artificial aromas. The method proposed in the present work can be useful to assess reliably the authenticity of aqueous samples, such as fruit beverages. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.