Sterols analyis in olive oil by microwave-assisted saponification and extraction followed by flow modulation comprehensive two dimentional chromatography

This project focused on the unsaponifiable component of olive oil, particularly the sterols fraction.
The official method for sterols involves a saponification process followed by a liquid-liquid extraction and further purification through thin-layer chromatography (TLC), while the instrumental analysis was conducted using 1D GC-FID. This methodology requires extensive processing time and significant solvent consumption. For this reason, in this project, efforts were made to improve the official method. In particular, the saponification and extraction steps were merged into one single step assisted by microwaves (MASE) to achieve lower processing time, and the TLC purification was replaced by a faster solid-phase extraction (SPE), which also allowed for the minimization of solvent volumes. In the end, for the chromatographic analysis, a flow modulation two-dimensional gas chromatographic system coupled with an FID detector (GC×GC-FID) was used to enhance the separation of sterols from possible interferences and guarantee an accurate quantification.