Using GCxGC/HRTOFMS with EI/FI/PI for component identification and time variation analysis of perfume
Introduction
Perfumes are known to be complex mixtures that typically contain a variety of compounds. Their scents are strongly affected by these compounds and their quantity ratios. Additionally, these ratios can change over time, thus changing the perfume’s scent.
Two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC-TOFMS) is an effective technique for measuring complex samples like perfumes. Using electron ionization (EI) allows for database searches. However, these searches may result in mis-assignments without the additional high-resolution molecular ion information that can be generated through soft ionization techniques.
In this study, we used GCxGC-HRTOFMS with EI and the soft ionization techniques of FI (Field Ionization) and PI (Photoionization). Additionally, we measured the changes in intensity over time for the top note/middle note/base note compounds.
Experiment
A pure perfume oil was qualitatively analyzed by using GCxGC-HRTOFMS EI, FI and PI. For the time studies, 0.1 μL of pure oil for the same perfume was placed in a 22mL vial and heated at 35˚C for 0 hour, 0.5 hour, 1 hour and 3 hours. Afterwards, the headspace was sampled by using a SPME fiber (50/30μm DVB/CAR/PDMS, Stableflex) and then measured by using GCxGC-HRTOFMS FI.