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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Author Spotlight: Optimizing Hollow-Fiber Membranes for Continuous Liquid-Liquid Extraction of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids
Published on: August 9, 2024
Simultaneous quantification of straight-chain and branched-chain short chain fatty acids by gas chromatography mass
Liqing He1, Md Aminul Islam Prodhan1, Fang Yuan1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208, USA; University of Louisville Alcohol Research Center, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208, USA; University of Louisville Hepatobiology & Toxicology Program, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208, USA; Center for Regulatory and Environmental Analytical Metabolomics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208, USA.
Abstract:
Biomedical research in areas such as metabolic disorders, neuromodulatory, and immunomodulatory conditions involves lipid metabolism and demands a reliable and inexpensive method for quantification of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). We report a GC-MS method for analysis of all straight-chain and branched-chain SCFAs using pentafluorobenzyl bromide (PFBBr) as derivatization reagent. We optimized the derivatization and GC-MS conditions using a mixture containing all eight SCFA standards, i.e., five straight-chain and three branched-chain SCFAs. The optimal derivatization conditions were derivatization time 90 min, temperature 60 °C, pH 7, and (CH3)2CO:H2O ratio 2:1 (v:v). Comparing the performance of different GC column configurations, a 30 m DB-225ms hyphenated with a 30 m DB-5ms column in tandem showed the best separation of SCFAs. Using the optimized experiment conditions, we simultaneously detected all SCFAs with much improved detection limit, 0.244-0.977 μM. We further applied the developed method to measure the SCFAs in mouse feces and all SCFAs were successfully quantified. The recovery rates of the eight SCFAs ranged from 55.7% to 97.9%.
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