Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry location

The picolinyl esters (32) permit the location of double bonds, since these give distinctive fragmentations that are characteristic of the double-bond positions. They are easily prepared and are not too polar for separation by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC). It has been confirmed that the picolinyl esters are the most useful, since they permit unequivocal identifications even with polyunsatured components. It was also demonstrated that derivatives of this type, prepared from natural mixtures, give satisfactory resolutions when subjected to GLC on capillary columns of fused silica coated with a nonpolar methylsilicone phase, for identification by mass spectrometry (MS). 

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