Activated aluminum oxide selectively retaining long chain n-alkanes: Part II. Integration into an on-line high performance liquid chromatography–liquid chromatography–gas chromatography–flame ionization detection method to remove plant paraffins for the determination of mineral paraffins in foods and environmental samples

Abstract

Aluminum oxide activated by heating to 300–400 °C retains n-alkanes with more than about 20 carbon atoms, whereas iso-alkanes largely pass non-retained (with characteristics described in more detail in Part I). This property is useful for the analysis of mineral oil contamination of foods and other matrices: it enables the removal of plant n-alkanes, typically ranging from C 23 to C 33, when they disturb the analysis of mineral paraffins (usually almost exclusively consisting of iso-alkanes). An on-line HPLC–LC–GC–FID method is proposed in which a first silica gel HPLC column isolates the paraffins from the bulk of edible oils or extracts and is backflushed with dichloromethane. In a second separation step, a 10 cm × 2 mm i.d. column packed with activated aluminum oxide separates the long chain n-alkanes from the fraction of the iso-alkanes which is transferred to GC–FID by the on-column interface and the retention gap technique. The retained n-alkanes are removed by flushing with iso-octane.