Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous samples by large volume injection gas chromatography–mass spectrometry using the through oven transfer adsorption desorption interface

LVI and DI-SPME Combined with GC/MS and GC/MS for Volatile Chemical Profile Investigation and Cytotoxic Power Evaluation of Essential Oil and Hydrolate from Cannabis sativa L. cv. Carmagnola

Cannabis sativa L. is a plant that has been cultivated since ancient times thanks to its various uses. Even its extraction products, such as essential oil and hydrolate, having a varied chemical composition and rich in bioactive components, find wide use in different sectors, gathering ever-increasing interest over time. In this work, the essential oil of Cannabis sativa L. cv. Carmagnola was characterized by using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) and, for the first time, the chemical profile of the hydrolate was also described through different analytical techniques such as Large-Volume Injection Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (LVI-GC/MS) and Direct Immersion-Solid Phase Microextraction-Gas Chromatography/Mass spectrometry (DI-SPME-GC/MS), in order to provide a more complete compositional profile. The results of the analyses conducted on the hydrolate highlighted a high content of α-terpineol; on the other side, in the essential oil, a prevalence of monoterpenes, with α-pinene and limonene as the characterizing components, was detected. Both matrices were also investigated to evaluate their cytotoxic activity by using a panel of cancer cell lines derived from different histotypes such as melanoma (A375, LOX IMVI), non-small cell lung cancer (H1299, A549), colon (HT29) and pancreatic (L3.6) cancer cell lines. The obtained data demonstrated that essential oil was more effective than hydrolate in terms of reduction in cell viability.

A poly(arylene ethynylene)-based microfluidic fluorescence sensor array for discrimination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were discriminated using a microfluidic paper-based sensor array device.

Improving enantiomeric resolutions by avoiding peak distortion effects in on-line coupled liquid chromatography to gas chromatography

In this work, we study the effect of different variables affecting elution profile distortion on the enantiomeric resolution eventually achievable when working with on-line coupled liquid chromatography to gas chromatography (LC-GC). Specifically, the proposed configuration combines achiral reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) and chiral gas chromatography (enantio-GC), with heptakis-(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin as enantioselective stationary phase to analyse target fractions transferred (from LC to GC) via the through oven transfer adsorption desorption (TOTAD) interface. The high degree of orthogonality resulting from the combination of two chromatographic columns having very different separation mechanisms (and also requiring mobile phases in distinct physical states), as well as integration of the sample preparation step in the first dimension of the system, significantly contributed to exploit the performance of the proposed two-dimensional approach. Occasional adverse effects, which may result in severe peak distortions during LC-GC analysis and could be explained by flow instabilities due to viscous fingering, are circumvented by using the outstanding capacity of the TOTAD interface for achieving effective elimination of the eluent arriving from the LC preseparation.