Determination of trace chelating carboxylic acids in rice by green extraction combined with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis and its application in the evaluation of old and new rice

Rationale Accurate identification of old rice samples from new ones benefits their market circulation and consumers. However, the current detection methods are still not satisfactory because of their insufficient accuracy or (and) time‐consuming process. Methods Chelating carboxylic acids (CCAs) were selectively extracted from rice, by stirring with chelating resin and a dilute Na 2 CO 3 solution. The green analytical chemistry guidelines for sample preparation were investigated by using the green chemistry calculator AGREE prep. The extractant was determined by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS), and statistical analysis of the analytical data was carried out to evaluate the significance of the difference by ChiPlot. Results The limit of quantitation for the CCAs is in the range of 1 to 50 ng/mL, with a reasonable reproducibility. The CCAs in 23 rice samples were determined within a wide concentration range from 0.03 to 1174 μg/g. Intriguingly, the content of citric acid, malonic acid, α‐ketoglutaric acid and cis ‐aconite acid in new rice was each found to be distinctively higher than that in old rice by several times. Even mixtures of old and new rice were found to show much difference in the concentration of citric acid and malic acid. Conclusion A green analytical method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of CCAs by LC/MS analysis, and the identification of old rice samples from new ones was easily carried out according to their CCA content for the first time. The results indicated that the described method has powerful potential for the accurate identification of old rice samples from new ones.