Determination of 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol in liquid hydrolyzed vegetable proteins and soy sauce by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method was developed to determine 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) in hydrolyzed vegetable protein and Chinese soy sauce. The 3-MCPD was firstly derivativized with phenylboronic acid in aqueous solution at 90 degrees C for 10 min, then extracted by HS-SPME and finally detected with GC/MS, parameters related to both the derivative reaction and the HS-SPME process were optimized. The proposed method has a linear range of 0.0194-394 microg g(-1), a detection limit of 3.87 ng g(-1) (S/N = 3), and a precision of RSD = 7.5% (n = 5). Seventeen real samples, including four HVPs and thirteen soy sauce samples, were analyzed to examine the feasibility of the proposed procedure; with a concentration of 3-MCPD and acceptable recoveries at 0.71 microg g(-1) spiked levels were obtained. Being simpler, faster and more environmentally benign than the existing methods, this method is accurate and suitable for routine analysis.