ANALYSIS OF THERMALLY PRODUCED COMPOUNDS IN FOODS BY THERMOSPRAY LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The feasibility of using thermospray liquid chromatography-mass spectr ometry using water as chemical ionization (CI) reagent in discharge mo de for molecular weight determination was demonstrated with two known thermally produced compounds. Subsequently, the method was used to det ermine the molecular weight of a third compound thermally produced in meats. The same molecular weight was obtained using pure water as CI r eagent with discharge and a 0.1 M ammonium acetate solution without di scharge. The molecular weight of 114 was confirmed by gas chromatograp hy-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). An electron impact mass spectrum obtaine d by GC-MS matched a previously published spectrum for 4-hydroxy-5-met hyl-3(2H)-furanone.