Differential Analysis of Aroma Compounds in Red Wines from Different Regions Using GC-O-TOFMS
Introduction
Food flavor compounds are important elements of good taste, while off-flavor compounds, such as rancid odors, significantly affect food quality. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is widely used for the analysis of food aroma compounds, as it is well-suited for separating and detecting highly volatile compounds in complex mixtures. Furthermore, gas chromatography-olfactometry mass spectrometry (GC-O-MS) enables simultaneous sensory evaluation by human olfaction and chemical identification via mass spectrometry (MS), making it an effective method for elucidating the sensory contributions of aroma components.
In qualitative GC-MS analysis, compound identification is commonly performed by library searching using commercially available electron ionization (EI) mass spectral databases, such as the NIST database (DB). However, not all compounds are registered in the NIST DB. To determine the molecular formulas of unknown compounds that are not listed in the database, we propose an “integrated analysis”1) approach that combines electron ionization (EI) and soft ionization (SI) data obtained using time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS). Furthermore, by using automated structure analysis software called “msFineAnalysis AI” which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict EI mass spectra from chemical structures2), it is possible to estimate the structural formula.
Therefore, in this MSTips, we report on the measurement of aroma components in red wine using GC-O-TOFMS with headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), along with the analysis results obtained using msFineAnalysis AI.