Deep insight into the minor fraction of virgin olive oil by using LC-MS and GC-MS multi-class methodologies

Several analytical methods are available to evaluate virgin olive oil (VOO) minor compounds; however, multi-class methodologies are yet rarely studied. Herewith, LC-MS and GC-MS platforms were used to develop two methods capable of simultaneously determine more than 40 compounds belonging to different VOO minor chemical classes within a single run. A non-selective and highly efficient liquid-liquid extraction protocol was optimized for VOO minor components isolation. The separation and detection conditions were adjusted for determining phenolic and triterpenic compounds, free fatty acids and tocopherols by LC-MS, plus sterols and hydrocarbons by GC-MS. Chromatographic analysis times were 31 and 50 min, respectively. A comparative assessment of both methods in terms of analytical performance, easiness, cost and adequacy to the analysis of each class was carried out. The emergence of this kind of multi-class analytical methodologies greatly increases throughput and reduces cost, while avoiding the complexity and redundancy of single-chemical class determinations.