Feasibility study for the use of colorimetric sensor arrays, NIR and FT-IR spectroscopy in the quantitative analysis of volatile components in honey

Abstract

In this work, the feasibility of colorimetric sensor array (CSA), near-infrared (NIR), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy (both individually and in combination) coupled with chemometrics for the quantitative analysis of volatile compounds (VCs) in honey were evaluated. The compounds were extracted using solid-phase microextraction and determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Nine calibration models were established with the intention of the quantitative analysis of the abundant VCs in honey samples. CSA showed the best predictive models for 2-furanmethanol (Rp = 0.873), benzyl alcohol (Rp = 0.959), phenyl ethyl alcohol (Rp = 0.959), furfural (Rp = 0.979), benzaldehyde (Rp = 0.906), 5-methyl furfural (Rp = 0.877), phenol, 2-methoxy- (Rp = 0.751) and 4-ketoisophorone (Rp = 0.986), while NIR showed the best model for 2-heptanone (Rp = 0.936). The results achieved with the NIR technique are superior to the ones obtained with FT-IR spectroscopy. Overall, the results demonstrated that combining CSA with NIR or FT-IR was feasible and could improve the prediction accuracy of VCs in honey.