Determination of hexanal as an oxidative marker in vegetable oils using an automated dynamic headspace sampler...

An automated dynamic headspace sampler coupled to a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer was evaluated as an oxidative marker to determine hexanal content in vegetable oils. For the effective analysis, a cooled injection system (CIS) was used to focus and to introduce the hexanal desorbed from the Tenax TA. The temperature of the CIS was maintained at -60 °C for 12 min before desorbing the hexanal. Hexanal was separated on a capillary column (DB-5, 0.25 mm × 60 m, 0.25 µm in film thickness) from 50 to 230 °C, followed by mass spectrometer-selected ion monitoring analysis at m/z 56. The instrumental response to hexanal was highly linear from 10 ng mL(-1) to 1 µg mL(-1) (r(2) = 0.9999). The relative standard deviation (RSD) of intra- and inter-day repeatability was acceptable, with values of less than 3.88 and 4.25%, respectively. The LOD and LOQ of hexanal were determined by gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer-selected ion monitoring to be 3.3 and 9.8 ng mL(-1), respectively. The acid value, peroxide value and fatty acid composition revealed a good correlation with the hexanal concentration.