Food and Ingredients Analysis

Integrated Solutions for Food Authenticity, Characterization and Safety with the expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer, AVANT® (U)HPLC and SOLATION® ICP-MS 

Your integrated laboratory solution for comprehensive testing of food, ingredients and natural products. Advion offers a full suite of analytical instrumentation for characterization, screening and purity determination, including:

  • expression® CMS – The expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS) offers the industry’s widest range of sample introduction systems, providing rapid answers with little or no sample prep in < 30 seconds.
  • SOLATION® ICP-MS – Provides fast, simple, multi-element analysis of toxic metals, and essential elements and minerals in a wide array of samples, including water, soil, plant material, food and raw ingredients 
  • AVANT® HPLC & UHPLC – Advion’s range of modular high performance, liquid chromatography systems can be used standalone with UV and UV/Vis detector options, or with the expression® CMS to provide seamlessly integrated LC/CMS under the full control of Advion’s simple, intuitive software suite. 
  • PLATE EXPRESS® TLC PLATE READER – Plate Express® provides a simple, automated means of obtaining mass spectra directly from TLC plates, combined with Advion’s expression® CMS creating a technique known as TLC/ CMS. See results in < 30 seconds at the push of a button. 

Plate Express®: Direct Mass Analysis from TLC Plates

Provides simple, automated MS analysis in seconds, directly from TLC plates

The Plate Express® is a device that provides a simple, automated means of obtaining mass spectra directly from TLC plates, creating a technique known as TLC/MS. Combined with Advion Interchim Scientific’s expression® compact mass spectrometer (CMS) this becomes TLC/CMS. Using this technique, chemists can quickly and confidently identify products even in complex mixtures without additional sample preparation.

  • Identify spots in <1 minute
  • Avoid the risk of overloading the mass spectrometer – TLC spots contain the ideal amount of sample for mass spectrometry
  • Software controlled – spectra obtained within a few mouse clicks
  • Simplify the process of obtaining spectra – ideal for multi-user labs

Mass spectrometry as a versatile ancillary technique for the rapid in situ identification of lichen metabolites directly from TLC plates

Pierre Le Pogam, Aline Pillot, Françoise Lohezic-le Devehat, Anne-Cécile Le Lamer, Béatrice Legouin, Alice Gadea, Aurélie Sauvager, Damien Ertz, Joël Boustie

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) still enjoys widespread popularity among lichenologists as one of the fastest and simplest analytical strategies, today remaining the primary method of assessing the secondary product content of lichens. The pitfalls associated with this approach are well known as TLC leads to characterizing compounds by comparison with standards rather than properly identifying them, which might lead to erroneous assignments, accounting for the long-held interest in hyphenating TLC with dedicated identification tools. As such, commercially available TLC/Mass Spectrometry (MS) interfaces can be easily connected to any brand of mass spectrometer without adjustments. The spots of interest are extracted from the TLC plate to retrieve mass spectrometric signals within one minute, thereby ensuring accurate identification of the chromatographed substances. The results of this hyphenated strategy for lichens are presented here by 1) describing the TLC migration and direct MS analysis of single lichen metabolites of various structural classes, 2) highlighting it through the chemical profiling of crude acetone extracts of a set of lichens of known chemical composition, and finally 3) applying it to a lichen of unknown profile, Usnea trachycarpa.

The TLC/MS analysis was carried out using Advion Expression® CMS + Plate Express.

Peak Express: Software for the Synthetic Organic Chemist

Introducing a new type of mass spectrum, available exclusively in the Advion Peak Express software suite: the Delta Spectrum (ΔS). The ΔS is available with the expression® compact mass spectrometer (CMS) to look beyond chemical noise and automatically detect even the smallest peaks without knowing the m/z in advance.

With the Peak Express™ software featuring ΔS, you can:

  • Obtain clear detection of peaks without knowing their mass
  • Find adducts, dimers, fragments, side-reactions and other unexpected compounds at the click of a button, in real-time or with post-processing
  • Highlight minor components in complex mixtures and dirty matrices
  • Control mass-directed purification without providing the compound mass
  • Acquire XIC-quality data while scanning the entire mass range, allowing Peak Express to tell you the m/z

Sudan Dyes Analysis Using Compact Mass Spectrometry with TLC Interface

Sudan Dyes are synthesized azo-dyes which are widely used to generate color in plastics, leather, fabrics, oil, waxes, etc. They are classified as Group 3 carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and are banned as food additives worldwide. However, in some countries these dyes are still occasionally used in order to intensify the color in products. In this note, a TLC/CMS method using expression® compact mass spectrometer (CMS) coupled with the Plate Express Interface is introduced for the detection of 7 Sudan dyes in a chili matrix.

CheMS Simplified Mass Spec Software

The CheMS user interface simplifies the mass spectrometry experience and makes it more accessible in chemistry and biochemistry laboratories. This allows the chemist to obtain optimal data without needing to be an expert in mass spectrometry.

Advion compact mass spectrometer

Available with the Advion expression® compact mass spectrometer (CMS) is a fast and easy tool that is ideal for the teaching environment — Students simply select an ionization method for effortless instrument setup at the click of a button.

Fill out the form to download the full CheMS product note now.

Analysis of 4-Aminobiphenyl and 4-Bromoanilin on normal phase TLC using TLC/MS

The analytical verification of compounds in organic syntheses is a challenging task. The sample is often directly taken out of the reaction mixture and therefore contains many impurities and matrix components. As a result, low-level sample preparation combined with a direct analysis method is highly beneficial. TLC/MS (thin layer chromatography – mass spectrometry) is such an analytical technique.

Co-authored with Merck Millipore in Darmstadt, Germany, this application note demonstrates a normal phase TLC/CMS technique for the rapid determination of 4-aminobiphenyl in its reaction mixture.

For the application note on the TLC/CMS determination of 4-aminobiphenyl in reverse phase, click here.

Analysis of 4-Aminobiphenyl and 4-Bromoanilin on reversed phase TLC using TLC/MS

The analytical verification of compounds in organic syntheses is a challenging task. The sample is often directly taken out of the reaction mixture and therefore contains many impurities and matrix components. As a result, low-level sample preparation combined with a direct analysis method is highly beneficial. TLC/MS (thin layer chromatography – mass spectrometry) is such an analytical technique.

Co-authored with Merck Millipore in Darmstadt, Germany, this application note demonstrates a reverse phase TLC/CMS technique for the rapid determination of 4-aminobiphenyl in its reaction mixture.

For the application note on the TLC/CMS determination of 4-aminobiphenyl in normal phase, click here.

Direct Mass Analysis of TLC Plates

Plate Express is a device that provides a simple, automated means of obtaining mass spectra directly from TLC plates, creating a technique known as TLC/MS. Combined with Advion Interchim Scientific’s expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS) this becomes TLC/CMS. Using this technique chemists can quickly and confidently identify products even in complex mixtures without additional sample preparation.

Suzuki Reaction Monitoring Using Compact Mass Spectrometry with TLC Interface

This application note presents an online thin-layer chromatography (TLC)/CMS technique using the Advion Interchim Scientific expression® compact mass spectrometer (CMS) and Plate Express interface to provide compound structural information without sample preparation after TLC separation. A Suzuki reaction for the synthesis of 4-aminobiphenyl will be demonstrated. The online TLC/CMS technique provides rapid and accurate determination of reaction mixture components without the need for off-line TLC sample preparation procedures.