Improved peroxyl radical scavenging TOSC assay to quantify antioxidant capacity using SIFT-MS.

We report a new, fast, sensitive variation of the total oxyradical scavenging capacity (TOSC) assay for measuring the antioxidant capacity of pure compounds, plant extracts and biological fluids using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS). The TOSC assay examines the partial inhibition of ethene formation in the presence of antioxidants that compete with alpha-keto-gamma-methiolbutyric acid (KMBA) for reactive oxygen species. The SIFT-MS-TOSC assay takes 15 s for each ethene analysis and the time interval between consecutive analyses is 20 s. We demonstrate the method by monitoring the antioxidant capacity of several standard radical scavengers of peroxyl radicals. For peroxyl radicals the measured SIFT-MS-TOSC concentrations necessary to produce 50% inhibition of radical reaction with KMBA are 6.1 +/- 0.3 microM for Trolox, 5.7 +/- 0.3 microM for ascorbic acid, 8.4 +/- 0.4 microM for uric acid and 38 +/- 2 microM for reduced glutathione.

Determination of olive oil oxidative status by selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry.

The emergence of primary and secondary oxidation products in New Zealand extra virgin olive oil during accelerated thermal oxidation was measured and correlated with the concentrations of 13 headspace volatile compounds measured by selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS). SIFT-MS is a mass spectrometric technique that permits qualitative and absolute quantitative measurements to be made from whole air, headspace, or breath samples in real-time down to several parts per billion (ppb). It is well-suited to high-throughput analysis of headspace samples. Propanal, hexanal, and acetone were found at high concentrations in a rancid standard oil, while propanal, acetone, and acetic acid showed marked increases with oxidation time for the oils used in this study. A partial least-squares (PLS) regression model was constructed, which allowed the prediction of peroxide values (PV) for three separate oxidized oils. Sensory rancidity was also measured, although the correlations of headspace volatile compounds with sensory rancidity score were less satisfactory, and too few results were available for the construction of a PLS regression model. A fast (approximately 1 min), reliable method for prediction of olive oil PVs by SIFT-MS was developed.

Major volatile compounds in head-space above olive oil analysed by selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry.

Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is a technique that is well suited to the real-time analysis of head-space. SIFT-MS gives a non-discriminatory snapshot of the volatiles present and their amounts, and is considered to display less bias than chromatographic techniques as neither sample pre-treatment nor separation are necessary in most cases. The technique has been used for analysis of virgin olive oil head-space on more than 100 different oils. Twenty of these are reported. The results obtained using this technique differ from those normally reported from chromatographic analyses in that the dominant species in the head-space of all oils tested were methanol and ethanol. These volatiles were present in the head-space in the concentration ranges of 2.8-11.3 ppm (methanol) and 0.4-4.9 ppm (ethanol). (E)-2-Hexenal, normally reported as the dominant olive oil volatile, is found in significantly lower concentrations and is in the range of 0.02-1.6 ppm.