Development of a LC-QTOF-MS based dilute-and-shoot approach for the botanical discrimination of honeys

In this study, a 'dilute-and-shoot' approach using liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS) was applied to the non-targeted fingerprinting of honeys of different floral origin (buckwheat, clover and blueberry). This work investigated for the first time the impact of different instrumental conditions such as the column type, the mobile phase composition, the chromatographic gradient, and the MS fragmentor voltage (in-source collision-induced dissociation) on the botanical classification of honeys as well as the data quality. Results indicated that the data sets obtained for the various LC-QTOF-MS conditions tested were all suitable to discriminate the three honeys of different floral origin regardless of the mathematical model applied (random forest, partial least squares-discriminant analysis, soft independent modelling by class analogy and linear discriminant analysis). The present study investigated different LC-QTOF-MS conditions in a "dilute and shoot" method for honey analysis, in order to establish a relatively fast, simple and reliable analytical method to record the chemical fingerprints of honey. This approach is suitable for marker discovery and will be used for the future development of advanced predictive models for honey botanical origin.PMID:38637048 | DOI:10.1016/j.aca.2024.342536

Source: Analytica Chimica Acta - April 18, 2024 Category: Chemistry Authors: Lei Tian Shaghig Bilamjian Lan Liu Caren Akiki Daniel J Cuthbertson Tarun Anumol St éphane Bayen Source Type: research