Chiral Trapped-Headspace GC-QMS-IMS: Boosting Untargeted Benchtop Volatilomics to the Next Level

In the field of quality analysis of food and flavoring products, gas chromatography–quadrupole mass spectrometry–ion mobility spectrometry (GC-QMS-IMS) is a powerful technique for the simultaneous detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by both QMS and IMS. GC is an established technique for the separation of complex VOC-rich food products. While subsequent detection by IMS features soft ionization of fragile compounds (e.g., terpenes) with characteristic drift times, MS provides analytes’ m/z values for database substance identification. A limitation of the prominently used static-headspace-based GC-QMS-IMS systems is the substantially higher sensitivity of IMS in comparison to full-scan QMS. The present study describes a new prototypic trapped-headspace (THS)-GC-QMS-IMS setup using mango purees. This approach ultimately allows the combination of soft ionization with m/z values obtained from database-searchable electron ionization (EI) spectra. The new setup features aligned retention times for IMS and MS and sufficient signal intensities for QMS and IMS. The results demonstrate that THS-GC-QMS-IMS allows for the classification of mango purees from different cultivars and that it could be a promising alternative method for authenticity control of food, flavors, and beverages.