Quantitation of natural triacylglycerols by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with direct liquid inlet mass spectrometry.

Using acetonitrile and propionitrile as eluting solvents and reagent gases the yields of both quasi-molecular and fragment ions were found to vary with the molecular weight, degree of unsaturation and positional distribution of the fatty acids in the triacylglycerol molecule, and appropriate calibration factors were necessary for accurate quantitation. In the absence of pure structural isomers and mixed acid standards, preliminary calibration factors have been determined for total ion and specific ion current responses by comparing the peak area ratios obtained by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with the proportions of the molecular species known to be present in randomized oils and in natural oils of known chemical composition. Although the derived factors include both chromatographic and mass spectrometric effects and are obtained with a gradient of reagent gases, they appear to be generally applicable. It was shown that positional isomers affected the yield of the (MH-RCOOH)+ ions over a 1-3-fold range of intensities, while the nature of the fatty acid affected it over a range of 1.25-fold. After suitable calibration of the relative ion responses it was possible to determine the identities and amounts of the individual molecular species in natural fats and oils.