Vacuum-Assisted HSSPME, An Innovative Sampling Approach, For Food Applications

Vacuum assisted headspace solid-phase microextraction (Vac-HSSPME) has been proposed as a valid technique to increase the performance of conventional HSSPME.
Although the total amount extracted at the equilibrium does not change when reduced pressure conditions are applied, an improvement of extraction yield is observable at shorter extraction time and milder extraction temperature compared to conventional applications. This is particular beneficial for analytes with a low affinity for the headspace (semi-volatiles).
The use of Vac-HSSPME is of particular interest for the analysis of food volatiles, allowing to obtain a more comprehensive evaluation of the aroma profile, especially when heating the sample can easily cause artifacts formation.
The effect of reduced pressure conditions on a completely fatty sample, i.e. extra-virgin olive oil, has been investigated for the first time and new insight into the SPME mechanism have been obtained.
In the present work, the effects of extraction temperature and sampling time were investigated using both traditional one variable at a time approach and a two-variable central component design (CCD).
Moreover, Vac-HSSPME has been used to sampling the volatile compounds of raw fish at efrigerated temperature obtaining results comparable to regular SPME at room temperature.