Comparison of gas chromatographic methods for volatile lipid oxidation compounds in soybean oil

To develop new knowledge on undesirable flavors affecting the quality of foods containing polyunsaturated lipids, we investigated the volatiles in soybean oil oxidized at different conditions by three capillary gas chromatographic methods: (a) direct injection (5 min heating at 180 C); (b) static headspace (20 min heating at 180 C, pressurizing for one min), and (c) dynamic headspace (purging 15 min at 180 C onto a porous polymer trap, desorbing from trap for five min). A fused silica column was used with bonded polymethyl and phenyl siloxane phase. At peroxide values between 2 and 10, the major volatile products found in soybean oil by the three methods were pentane, hexanal, 2-heptenal, 2,4-heptadienal and 2,4-decadienal. The intensities of each volatile compound varied with the analytical methods used.