Non-Target Characterization and Simultaneous Quantification for Reformulation of Complex Fragrance Samples with GCxGC-MS/FID

Fragrance samples often contain many chemical components, and determination of the individual species can be important for many objectives, including reformulation. Reformulation goals typically involve determining the identification and relative amounts of the components in a sample. This information facilitates product matching or development and can also be useful for characterization, authentication, and verification. It is usually not practical to calibrate and quantify all of the components with standards. More commonly, workflows to achieve this use MS for identification and FID for relative area % quantification. This often requires separate injections to each detector per sample. Particularly complex samples may need multiple one-dimensional separations with different stationary phases to address coelutions and isolate individual compounds. Here, we demonstrate an improved workflow using GCxGC with dual TOFMS/FID detection to yield reliable identification and area % quantification in a single injection. GCxGC provides enhanced chromatographic separations to address coelutions, removing the need for separate 1D analyses with different stationary phases to handle complex samples. Dual MS and FID detection enables both identification and area % quantification from the same injection rather than from each detector independently. Several hardware and software attributes were designed to support this workflow and ensure reliable data. A novel controlled splitter maintains a consistent split ratio between the MS and FID through the chromatographic separation. A reverse fill flush (RFF) modulator with software verification of method parameters ensures total transfer of the primary effluent to the secondary column. Novel software algorithms align the MS and FID peaks, streamlining data interpretation. Results for various fragrance samples, capabilities, and benefits are shown.