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- A sensitive method for the rapid determination of underivatized ethyl carbamate in fortified wine by liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometryPublication . Leça, João M.; Pereira, Vanda; Pereira, Ana C.; Marques, José C.This work presents the optimization of a miniaturized liquid-liquid extraction (mLLE) followed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC-MS/MS) for the determination of ethyl carbamate (EC) in fortified wine, without using derivatizing agents. The mLLE was optimized by an experimental design. Thus, 15 mL of wine and 8 mL of ethyl acetate were used for the extraction. After concentration, each extract was injected into the HPLC MS/MS equipment and the characteristic secondary ion transition of EC (m/z = 90.10 → 62.05) was used for the quan tification purposes. The proposed method presented a good lin earity (R2 = 0.9999) and a high sensitivity with low limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ), 0.17 and 0.52 μg L−1 , respectively. The precision (repeatability and reproducibility) never exceeded 8% of variation, and the recoveries varied between 93 and 114%. The applicability of the method was checked through the analysis of 24 fortified wines, with EC values ranging between 23 ± 1 and 194 ± 5 μg L−1 . All chromatograms revealed good peak resolutions. This new method is efficient for the simple, fast, and reliable determination of EC in fortified wines, providing great sensitivity without using derivatizing agents or large volumes of organic solvents.
- Definitive screening designs and latent variable modelling for the optimization of solid phase microextraction (SPME): case study-quantification of volatile fatty acids in winesPublication . Pereira, Ana C.; Reis, Marco S.; Leça, João M.; Rodrigues, Pedro M.; Marques, José C.In the present study, we apply the recently proposed Definitive Screening Designs (DSD) to optimize HS-SPME extraction in order to analyze volatile fatty acids (VFA) present in wine samples. This is the first attempt to apply this new class of designs to one of the most well-known and widely applied extraction techniques. The latent structure of the responses is also explored for defining the optimal extraction conditions. DSD is a new screening design with the potential to significantly reduce the number of experiments required to estimate the model pa rameters and to establish the optimum operation conditions. Therefore, there is an obvious interest in assessing the benefits of DSD in practice. In this work, this design framework is applied to the simultaneous optimization of seven extraction parameters (responses). Both qualitative and quantitative extraction parameters are considered, in order to test the flexibility of DSD designs: a two-level qualitative variable, the fiber coating, and six quanti tative variables, namely the pre-incubation time, the extraction time and temperature, the headspace/sample volume, the effect of agitation during extraction and the influence of the ethanol content (sample dilution). Optimization of analytes' chromatographic responses was carried out both individually (response by response) and altogether, by modelling the responses in the latent variable space (i.e., explicitly considering their under lying correlation structure). In the end, a consensus analysis of all perspectives was considered in the definition of the overall optimal extraction conditions for the quantification of VFA in fortified wines. The solution found was to use a DVB/Car/PDMS fiber, 10 mL of samples in 20 mL vial, 40 min of extraction at 40 C. The analysis also revealed that the factors incubation time, agitation and sample dilution do not play a significant role in explaining the variability of extraction parameters. Therefore, they were set to the most convenient levels. The methodology followed was thoroughly validated and the following figures of merit were obtained: good linearity (R2 > 0.999, for all compounds), high sensitivity (LOD and LOQ are close or below the values found in literature), recoveries of approximately 100% and suitable precision (repeatability and reproducibility lower than 7.21% and 8.61%, respectively). Finally, the optimized methodology was tested in practice. Several wine samples were analyzed and the odor activity value calculated to facilitate the identification of their importance as odor active compounds in different aged fortified wines. This work demonstrates the benefits of using DSD and latent variable modelling for the optimization of analytical techniques, contributing to the implementation of rigorous, systematic and more efficient optimization protocols.
- Evaluation of fucoxanthin contents in seaweed biomass by vortex-assisted solid-liquid microextraction using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detectionPublication . Nunes, N.; Leça, João M.; Pereira, Ana C.; Pereira, Vanda; Ferraz, S.; Barreto, Maria Carmo; Marques, José C.; Carvalho, M.A.A. Pinheiro deFucoxanthin is considered an important marine bioactive compound with biological properties with promising effects, namely on health. A simple and efficient analytical methodology is proposed for its quantification in seaweed biomass by using vortex-assisted solid-liquid microextraction (VASLME) followed by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) photodiode array detection (PDA) analysis. This microextraction uses reduced quantities of sample (25 mg) and solvent (300 μL of ethanol) to efficiently extract this high-valued xanthophyll, in a vortex time of 15 min. These extraction parameters were optimized performing a Central Composite Design (CCD) analysis, running 32 individual experiments. In turn, the method validation was assessed. The linearity of the method was confirmed (R2 = 0.99998) in a concentration range from 12 to 3600 μg·g−1 dw. Also, good sensitivity and accuracy results were observed through the LOD (3.33 μg·g−1 ), LOQ (10.09 μg·g−1 ) and recovery (varied from 95 to 97%) assessments. Good precision was also verified, with intra-day variation within 2.0–3.3%, and inter-day within 1.0–3.8%. Matrix effect was also evaluated and an acceptable variation of 3.4% was found. The method applicability was confirmed by the analysis of 22 seaweed biomass samples and fucoxanthin content was found to vary from about 10 to 853 μg·g−1 dw. This method demonstrated a good performance and can be successfully implemented for a rapid, reliable and accurate screening of fucoxanthin in seaweed biomass.
- Optimal design of experiments applied to headspace solid phase microextraction for the quantification of vicinal diketones in beer through gas chromatography-mass spectrometric detectionPublication . Leça, João M.; Pereira, Ana C.; Vieira, Ana C.; Reis, Marco S.; Marques, José C.Vicinal diketones, namely diacetyl (DC) and pentanedione (PN), are compounds naturally found in beer that play a key role in the definition of its aroma. In lager beer, they are responsible for off-flavors (buttery flavor) and therefore their presence and quantification is of paramount importance to beer producers. Aiming at developing an accurate quantitative monitoring scheme to follow these off-flavor compounds during beer production and in the final product, the head space solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) analytical procedure was tuned through experiments planned in an optimal way and the final settings were fully validated. Optimal design of experiments (O-DOE) is a computational, statistically oriented approach for designing experiences that are most informative according to a well-defined criterion. This methodology was applied for HS-SPME optimization, leading to the following optimal extraction conditions for the quantification of VDK: use a CAR/PDMS fiber, 5 ml of samples in 20 ml vial, 5 min of pre-incubation time followed by 25 min of extraction at 30 C, with agitation. The validation of the final analytical methodology was performed using a matrix-matched calibration, in order to mini mize matrix effects. The following key features were obtained: linearity (R2 > 0.999, both for diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione), high sensitivity (LOD of 0.92 mg L 1 and 2.80 mg L 1 , and LOQ of 3.30 mg L 1 and 10.01 mg L 1 , for diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione, respectively), recoveries of approximately 100% and suitable precision (repeatability and reproducibility lower than 3% and 7.5%, respectively). The applicability of the methodology was fully confirmed through an independent analysis of several beer samples, with analyte concentrations ranging from 4 to 200 g L 1
- Multiresponse and multiobjective latent variable optimization of modern analytical instrumentation for the quantification of chemically related families of compounds: case study—Solid‐phase microextraction (SPME) applied to the quantification of analytes with impact on wine aromaPublication . Reis, Marco S.; Pereira, Ana C.; Leça, João M.; Rodrigues, Pedro M.; Marques, José C.The optimized operation of modern analytical instrumentation is a critical but complex task. It involves the simultaneous consideration of a large number of factors, both qualitative and quantitative, where multiple responses should be quantified and several goals need to be adequately pondered, such as global quantification performance, selectivity, and cost. Furthermore, the problem is highly case specific, depending on the type of instrument, target analytes, and media where they are dispersed. Therefore, an optimization procedure should be conducted frequently, which implies that it should be efficient (requiring a low number of experiments), as simple as possible (from experi mental design to data analysis) and informative (interpretable and conclusive). The success of this task is fundamental for achieving the scientific goals and to justify, in the long run, the high economic investments made and significant costs of operation. In this article, we present a systematic optimization proce dure for the prevalent class of situations where multiple responses are available regarding a family of chemical compounds (instead of a single analyte). This class of problems conducts to responses exhibiting mutual correlations, for which, furthermore, several goals need to be simultaneously considered. Our approach explores the latent variable structure of the responses created by the chemical affinities of the compounds under analysis and the orthogonality of the interpretable extracted components to conduct their simultaneous opti mization with respect to different analysis goals. The proposed methodology was applied to a real case study involving the quantification of a family of analytes with impact on wine aroma.
- Modelling the ageing process: a novel strategy to analyze the wine evolution towards the expected featuresPublication . Pereira, Ana C.; Carvalho, Maria J.; Miranda, Andreia; Leça, João M.; Pereira, Vanda; Albuquerque, Francisco; Marques, José C.; Reis, Marco S.In this work we present a new strategy to monitor the wine evolution during the ageing process. More specifi cally, we validate a procedure for analyzing how wine evolves during the ageing process in relation to the desired and expected quality features and we apply the proposed methodology to the case of a Portuguese fortified wine, the Madeira wine, where we compare the wine evolution under two different ageing processes. The approach developed consists on modeling samples labeled as aged reference wines (5 year old Madeira wines), produced from four different grape varieties, and then analyze how and in which extent young wines (up to 3 years old) come closer to the reference data set. The analysis is based on a comprehensive set of chemical data, including: polyphenolic composition, organic acids, reducing sugars, color and oenological parameters, commonly used as routine quality control information. The study considers several feature extraction methods, such as: Principal Components of Analysis (PCA), Independent Component of Analysis (ICA) and Partial Least Squares (PLS). The classification methodologies tested were: Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), nearest neigh bor (k-NN) and Soft Independent Modelling by Class Analogy (SIMCA). The different options of preprocessing/ feature extraction/classification were evaluated and compared using a Monte Carlo approach. From our analysis, the best combination of feature extraction/classification methodologies was PLS/LDA, which presented a classification performance of approximately 90% for three out of the four classes modeled, and of about 78% for the remaining one. Regarding the wines monitored during the first 3 years, our analysis revealed that they indeed mature in relation to the five year old reference wines. Furthermore, for some wines, it is possible to detect differences between the two ageing processes analyzed. This study is of particular importance for this type of wines, where the ageing process plays a central role for attaining the expected quality levels, implying significant risks and costs for local and industrial producers. Notwithstanding the specific case study presented, the strategy outlined can be extrapolated to other products with similar characteristics in terms of their monitoring and process control
- Nutritional and phytochemical composition of Vaccinium padifolium Sm wild berries and radical scavenging activityPublication . Carvalho, Maria J.; Gouveia, Carla S.; Vieira, Ana C.; Pereira, Ana C.; Carvalho, Miguel Â.; Marques, José C.Blueberries have a well-deserved reputation as a potential functional food, supported by studies which have identified and quantified various nutrients and bioactive phytochemicals with known benefits for human diet and health. Wild blueberries have attracted particular attention due to the levels and concentrations of those phytonutrients. This study aims to evaluate for the first time the chemical composition of Madeira Island's endemic Vaccinium padifolium Sm wild berry. Results show that this fruit contains high values of total soluble phenolic content (around 4 g GAE kg-1 FW), as well as significant values of total monomeric anthocyanin content (around 3 g eq. cyanidin kg-1 FW) and DPPH scavenging activity (around 86.72%). Additionally, results reveal that this fruit has water content of about 88% as well as low sugar content (17.98 and 29.73 g kg-1 for glucose and fructose, respectively). Results also confirm that this wild blueberry is a good source of dietary fiber, fat and minerals. The high level of terpenoid compounds stands out in the aroma profile analysis.
- Rapid and sensitive methodology for determination of ethyl carbamate in fortified wines using microextraction by packed sorbent and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detectionPublication . Leça, João M.; Pereira, Vanda; Pereira, Ana C.; Marques, José C.This work presents a new methodology to quantify ethyl carbamate (EC) in fortified wines. The presented approach combines the microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS), using a hand-held automated ana lytical syringe, with one-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection (GC–MS). The performance of different MEPS sorbent materials was tested, namely SIL, C2, C8, C18, and M1. Also, several extraction solvents and the matrix effect were evaluated. Experimental data showed that C8 and dichloromethane were the best sorbent/solvent pair to extract EC. Concerning solvent and sample volumes optimization used in MEPS extraction an experimental design (DoE) was carried out. The best extraction yield was achieved passing 300 L of sample and 100 L of dichloromethane. The method validation was performed using a matrix-matched calibration using both sweet and dry fortified wines, to minimize the matrix effect. The proposed methodology presented good linearity (R2 = 0.9999) and high sensitivity, with quite low limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ), 1.5 g L−1 and 4.5 g L−1, respectively. The recoveries varied between 97% and 106%, while the method precision (repeatability and reproducibility) was lower than 7%. The applicability of the methodology was confirmed through the analysis of 16 fortified wines, with values ranging between 7.3 and 206 g L−1. All chromatograms showed good peak resolution, confirming its selectivity. The developed MEPS/GC–MS methodology arises as an importanttoolto quantify EC in fortified wines, combining efficiency and effectiveness, with simpler, faster and affordable analytical procedures that provide great sensitivity without using sophisticated and expensive equipment.