Simultaneous determination of volatile and semi-volatile aromatic hydrocarbons in virgin olive oil by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

A reliable, simple and relatively fast method for the simultaneous determination of volatile and semi-volatile aromatic hydrocarbons in virgin olive oil was developed, based on headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME). The investigation regarded eco-contaminants such as alkylated monoaromatic hydrocarbons from C1- to C4-benzenes and light polyaromatic hydrocarbons up to four aromatic rings. Sampling and chromatographic conditions were optimized by using standard solutions in deodorized olive oil and the analytical performances of the method were determined. The proposed method was then applied to real samples of virgin olive oil were the target hydrocarbons could be identified and quantified. Several of them had not been previously quantified in virgin olive oil. Moreover, by the analysis of olive oil samples an additional number of C4-benzenes could be tentatively identified.