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In this paper it is reported the use of the chromatographic profiles from volatile fractions of plant clones – in this case, hybrids of Eucalyptus grandis×Eucalyptus urophylla – to determine specimens susceptible to rust disease. The analytes were isolated by headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and analyzed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography combined to fast quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC×GC-qMS). Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) was employed for estimate the correlation between the chromatographic profiles and resistance against Eucalyptus rust, after preliminary variable selection performed by Fisher ratio analysis. The proposed method allowed the differentiation between susceptible and non-susceptible clones and determination of three resistance biomarkers. This approach can be a valuable alternative for the otherwise time-consuming and labor-intensive methods commonly used.

Since their original discovery in 1914, ionic liquids (IL) have been widely examined and explored in chemistry due to their unique physical and chemical properties. Ionic liquids are collectively known as organic salts and have melting points of 100 °C or under. The molten salts most employed in analytical chemistry, including gas chromatography (GC), consist of an organic cation paired with an organic or inorganic anion. This class of materials exhibits negligible vapor pressure and may have their properties (e.g.thermal stability and selectivity) structurally tuned by imparting different moieties to the cation/anion. Currently, there are an estimated 1018possible combinations of IL. In this context, the prospection of highly selective IL-based stationary phases for gas-liquid chromatography has enabled high peak capacity and efficient separations of many critical pairs in complex samples. In this review, we present and discuss fundamental characteristics of ionic liquids and introduce important solvation models for gas-liquid systems. In addition, recent advances and applications of IL in conventional and multidimensional gas chromatography are outlined.

Super elastic nitinol (NiTi) wires were exploited as highly robust supports for three distinct crosslinked polymeric ionic liquid (PIL)-based coatings in solid-phase microextraction (SPME). The oxidation of NiTi wires in a boiling (30% w/w) H2O2 solution and subsequent derivatization in vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS) allowed for vinyl moieties to be appended to the surface of the support. UV-initiated on-fiber copolymerization of the vinyl-substituted NiTi support with monocationic ionic liquid (IL) monomers and dicationic IL crosslinkers produced a crosslinked PIL-based network that was covalently attached to the NiTi wire. This alteration alleviated receding of the coating from the support, which was observed for an analogous crosslinked PIL applied on unmodified NiTi wires. A series of demanding extraction conditions, including extreme pH, pre-exposure to pure organic solvents, and high temperatures, were applied to investigate the versatility and robustness of the fibers. Acceptable precision of the model analytes was obtained for all fibers under these conditions. Method validation by examining the relative recovery of a homologous group of phthalate esters (PAEs) was performed in drip-brewed coffee (maintained at 60 °C) by direct immersion SPME. Acceptable recoveries were obtained for most PAEs in the part-per-billion level, even in this exceedingly harsh and complex matrix.

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) using cross-linked polymeric ionic liquid (PIL)-based sorbent coatings was used to extract volatile aroma-related compounds from coffee samples. Several PIL-based coatings were screened alongside a commercial poly(acrylate) (PA) SPME coating. The best performing PIL-based SPME fiber, poly(1-vinyl-3-hexadecylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonylimide]) with 50% (w/w) 1,12-di(3-vinylbenzylimidazolium)dodecane dibis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide incorporated cross-linker, was used to isolate the volatile fraction of Arabica coffee. To illustrate the importance of trace analyte isolation, a method for the detection and quantification of coffee adulteration is described. Chromatographic profiles obtained by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) were used to create the chemometric model. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was employed to correlate the aroma-related chemical fingerprint to the degree of adulteration. The proposed method successfully detected fraud down to 1% (w/w) of adulterant and accurately determined the degree of coffee adulteration (i.e, root mean square error of calibration and prediction of 0.54% and 0.83% (w/w), respectively). Finally, important aroma-related compounds including furans, methoxyphenols, pyrazines, and ketones were identified.