Rapid and simple determination of acrylamide in conventional cereal-based foods and potato chips through conversion to 3-[bis(trifluoroethanoyl)amino]-3-oxopropyl trifluoroacetate by gas chromatography coupled with electron capture and ion trap mass spectrometry detectors.

A new, simple, rapid and fully validated method based on gas chromatography coupled with Electron capture and ion trap mass spectrometry detectors (GC-ECD and GC-IT/MS) is presented for quantitative analysis of acrylamide contaminant in conventional cereal-based foods and potato chips. Before analysis acrylamide was efficiently derivatized with trifluoroacetic anhydride, the effects of temperature, reaction time and catalyst on the acylation reaction were evaluated. Chromatographic analysis was performed on SE-54 capillary column; good retention and peak response of the acrylamide derivative achieved under the optimal conditions. The analytical method has been fully validated by assessment of the following parameters: LODs and LOQs (1 and 25ngg(-1) by GC-ECD and 2 and 36ngg(-1) by GC-IT/MS, with a Relative Standard Deviations <4 and <6, respectively), linearity (R(2) above 0.981 in the range 0.005-50μgg(-1)) and extraction recovery (ranging between 91% and 99%, RSD below 4.0, for acrylamide spiked at levels of 1, 20, 50 and 100ngg(-1)). Furthermore, the method proposed requires no clean-up step of the acrylamide derivative to be performed prior to injection. The developed method has been successfully applied to determine acrylamide in different commercial cereal-based foods (including French fries and potato chips).