Confirmation of identities of propylene and ethylene glycols in anchovies by tandem mass spectrometry.

A gas chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric (GC/MS/MS) method has been developed for confirming the identity of propylene and ethylene glycols added to bait fish for preservation. Bait fish are occasionally illegally diverted to human food use. The bait fish were extracted with methanol, the extract was centrifuged and filtered, and the filtrate was concentrated 10-fold and then analyzed by GC/MS/MS. The glycols were separated chromatographically without derivatization or preliminary cleanup. Isobutane positive ion chemical ionization was used to generate the protonated molecular ion species of each glycol. Product-ion MS/MS experiments were performed to obtain spectra to confirm the identities of propylene and ethylene glycols. The identities of these 2 compounds in anchovy extracts were successfully confirmed by this approach.