Comparison of headspace solid-phase microextraction high capacity fiber coatings based on dual mass spectrometric and broadband vacuum ultraviolet absorption detection for untargeted analysis of beer volatiles using gas chromatography

Highlights: • Parallel untargeted MS/VUV detection for GC separations of beer volatiles. • VUV differentiated between beers using PCA as effectively as MS. • Three different statistical approaches universally identified distinguishing components. • Distinguishing components confirmed by spectral libraries and linear retention indices. Despite the same basic ingredients used in brewing, there is a significant variation in beer styles. With the rapid increase in craft brewing, beer styles have become even more numerous and complex in the recent past. A GC-MS/VUV (post-column split for dual detection) instrument with headspace high capacity SPME was used to investigate 21 different beers which represent three beer styles - India pale ales, blondes, and hefeweizens. Since results from untargeted studies can be affected by the sorbent material used, the extraction performances of three high capacity SPME fibers, i.e., polydimethylsiloxane, polydimethylsiloxane/carbon wide range, and polydimethylsiloxane/carbon wide range/divinylbenzene, were evaluated. Good reproducibility (tert-butylphenol). This is the first reported evaluation of VUV detection and the first comparison of simultaneous VUV and MS detection for untargeted classification of complex mixtures using GC.