| Abstract [eng] |
Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) have recently received a lot of attention for their beneficial effects for the body. Due to the applicability of volatile acids in biology and food industry, it is important to develop a cheap, fast, easy and reliable method for their determination. In this study, a fast, easy and reliable headspace gas chromatography method was developed for the determination of five volatile acids. The methodology includes simple sample preparation - adding NaH2PO4 to the analyzed solution and acidifying the samples with phosphoric acid. The samples are then analyzed by headspace gas chromatography using a polyethylene glycol capillary column and flame ionization detector. This optimized method makes it possible to separate volatile acids in a short analysis time. The influence of various salts was also studied and it was found that the best analysis results are obtained by using 10 mmol NaH2PO4. After optimizing the headspace sample injection conditions, the best sample incubation time was found to be 10 min, with a sample injection time of 0.09 min. The method is suitable for the determination of acetic, propionic, butyric and pentanoic acids in the concentration range from 10 µg/ml to 0.5 mg/ml, but is not suitable for the determination of hexane acid. |
