<p>Knowledge on how odorants are transported through the nasal cavity to the olfactory epithelium is limited. One facet of this is how the sniffing behavior affects the abundance of odorants transferred to the olfactory cleft and in turn influences odor perception. A novel system that couples an online mass spectrometer with an odorant pulse delivery olfactometer was employed to characterize intranasal odorant concentrations of butane-2,3-dione (or butanedione, commonly known as diacetyl) at the interior naris and the olfactory cleft. Volunteers (n=12) were asked to perform different modes of sniffing in relation to the sniff intensity that were categorized as &#39;normal&#39;, &#39;rapid&#39; and &#39;forced&#39;. The highest concentrations of butanedione at both positions in the nose were observed during normal sniffing, with the lowest concentrations correlating with periods of forced sniffs. This corresponded to the panelists&#39; ratings that normal sniffing elicited the highest odor intensities. These feasibility assessments pave the way for more in-depth analyses with a variety of odorants of different chemical classes at various intranasal positions, to investigate the passage and uptake of odorants within the nasal cavity.</p>

<p>Breath analysis research is being successfully pursued using a variety of analytical methods, prominent amongst which are gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry, IMS, and the fast flow and flow-drift tube techniques called selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry, SIFT-MS, and proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, PTR-MS. In this paper the case is made for real-time breath analysis by obviating sample collection into bags or onto traps that can suffer from partial degradation of breath metabolites or the introduction of impurities. Real-time analysis of a broad range of volatile chemical compounds can be best achieved using SIFT-MS and PTR-MS, which are sufficiently sensitive and rapid to allow the simultaneous analyses of several trace gas metabolites in single breath exhalations. The basic principles and the ion chemistry that underpin these two analytical techniques are briefly described and the differences between them, including their respective strengths and weaknesses, are revealed, especially with reference to the analysis of the complex matrix that is exhaled breath. A recent innovation is described that combines time-of-flight mass spectrometry with the proton transfer flow-drift tube reactor, PTR-TOFMS, which provides greater resolution in the analytical mass spectrometer and allows separation of protonated isobaric molecules. Examples are presented of some recent data that well illustrate the quality and real-time feature of SIFT-MS and PTR-MS for the analysis of exhaled breath for physiological/biochemical/pharmacokinetics studies and for the identification and quantification of biomarkers relating to specific disease states.</p>

<p>Breath analysis research is being successfully pursued using a variety of analytical methods, prominent amongst which are gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry, IMS, and the fast flow and flow-drift tube techniques called selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry, SIFT-MS, and proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, PTR-MS. In this paper the case is made for real-time breath analysis by obviating sample collection into bags or onto traps that can suffer from partial degradation of breath metabolites or the introduction of impurities. Real-time analysis of a broad range of volatile chemical compounds can be best achieved using SIFT-MS and PTR-MS, which are sufficiently sensitive and rapid to allow the simultaneous analyses of several trace gas metabolites in single breath exhalations. The basic principles and the ion chemistry that underpin these two analytical techniques are briefly described and the differences between them, including their respective strengths and weaknesses, are revealed, especially with reference to the analysis of the complex matrix that is exhaled breath. A recent innovation is described that combines time-of-flight mass spectrometry with the proton transfer flow-drift tube reactor, PTR-TOFMS, which provides greater resolution in the analytical mass spectrometer and allows separation of protonated isobaric molecules. Examples are presented of some recent data that well illustrate the quality and real-time feature of SIFT-MS and PTR-MS for the analysis of exhaled breath for physiological/biochemical/pharmacokinetics studies and for the identification and quantification of biomarkers relating to specific disease states.</p>

<p>Exposure of milk to light leads to photooxidation and the development of off-flavours. To follow these reactions, semi-skimmed (1.5% fat) and whole (3.8% fat) extended shelf life (ESL) bovine milk samples were exposed to fluorescent light for up to 20 h at room temperature, and the volatiles in the samples&#39; headspace were measured in real time using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). Compounds tentatively identified as methanethiol, acetone/propanal, pentanal/octanal/nonanal/1-octen-3-ol, hexanal, diacetyl, dimethyl disulphide, heptanal and benzaldehyde displayed dynamic release profiles relating to the changes occurring in milk upon exposure to light. Copyright &copy; 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p>

<p>Odorant pens are used by medical practitioners and researchers to assess olfactory dysfunction. Despite their routine use, there are currently no data on the gas-phase odorant concentrations released from the pen tips or whether these concentrations scale linearly with the aqueous-phase concentrations inside the pens. The commercially available Sniffin&#39; Sticks odor threshold test containing n-butanol was chosen for evaluation. The gas-phase concentration of n-butanol at the tip of each pen was measured directly in a new set of pens via proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). Measurements were additionally made on the same pens after 6&nbsp;months and two older pen sets, namely a 3-year-old (used) and 4-year-old (new) set. Furthermore, application-related tests were made to determine the performance of the pens during routine use and under stress. These data demonstrate that the gas-phase n-butanol concentrations of the threshold pens are linear over the entire set, both for brand-new pens and 6&nbsp;months later; this reflects the expected performance that was previously only assumed. Furthermore, the application-simulation tests demonstrated a good performance of the pens when used according to their intended protocol. Measurements of the older pen sets suggest that storage conditions are more critical than usage for pen stability. The present findings confirm that the n-butanol odorant pens are an appropriate tool for threshold testing, provided they are stored and handled correctly.</p>

We report on the search for low molecular weight molecules-possibly accumulated in the bloodstream and body-in the exhaled breath of uremic patients with kidney malfunction. We performed non-invasive analysis of the breath gas of 96 patients shortly before and several times after kidney transplantation using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), a very sensitive technique for detecting trace amounts of volatile organic compounds. A total of 642 individual breath analyses which included at least 41 different chemical components were carried out. Correlation analysis revealed one particular breath component with a molecular mass of 114 u (unified atomic mass units) that clearly correlated with blood serum creatinine, which is the currently accepted marker for assessing the function of the kidney. In particular, daily urine production showed good correlation with the identified breath marker. An independent set of seven samples taken from three patients at the onset of dialysis and three controls with normal kidney function confirmed a significant difference in concentration between patients and controls for a compound with a molecular mass of 114.1035 u using high mass resolving proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS). A chemical composition of CHO was derived for the respective component. Fragmentation experiments on the same samples using proton-transfer-reaction triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (PTR-QqQ-MS) suggested that this breath marker is a C-ketone or a branched C-aldehyde. Non-invasive real-time monitoring of the kidney function via this breath marker could be a possible future procedure in the clinical setting.

This study investigates time-dependent aroma changes in human milk after intake of an odorant-containing pharmaceutical preparation by correlating sensory evaluation with quantitative results.Human milk donors ingested 100 mg of encapsulated 1,8-cineole. 21 milk samples from 12 participants underwent sensory analysis, of which 14 samples were quantified by stable isotope dilution assay (SIDA) analysis. Furthermore, several consecutive breast milk and exhaled breath gas samples from one volunteer after intake of 1,8-cineole were analysed by proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and sensory evaluation on three separate days.The emergence of the characteristic eucalyptus-like odour of 1,8-cineole in exhaled breath after capsule ingestion coincided with its transfer into milk; its presence in breath was therefore used to indicate the time at which milk should be expressed for gathering samples. Odorant transfer could not be confirmed by sensory analysis in 7 of the 21 milk samples, most likely due to disadvantageous timing of milk expression. The other 14 samples exhibited a distinct eucalyptus-like odour. Quantitative results matched these observations with <20 ?g/kg 1,8-cineole in the odourless samples and 70 to an estimated 2090 ?g/kg 1,8-cineole in the other samples.Transfer of 1,8-cineole into human milk after oral intake is time dependent and exhibits large inter and intra-individual differences.

The release of four volatile flavour compounds (cis-3-hexen-1-ol, benzaldehyde, ethyl butanoate and butyl isovalerate) from pure water and various low-viscosity aqueous solutions (sucrose, maltitol, erythritol, polydextrose and oligofructose, each at 20% (w/w)) was investigated. Dynamic headspace concentrations of the flavour compounds at thermodynamic equilibrium were monitored by proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). The rheological properties of the solutions were characterised by their viscosity. Flavour release from pure water increased with increasing hydrophobicity and volatility of the flavour compounds. The highly volatile compounds were retained more extensively in the presence of sucrose, polyols and bulking agents, compared to in pure water, whereas an increase in the release of the less volatile cis-3-hexen-1-ol was observed. All aqueous solutions had similar viscosities, although bulking agent solutions tended to have higher viscosities than polyol solutions of the same concentration. A correlation between viscosity and flavour release in the low-viscosity solutions was not evident.

Flavor release from mixtures of maltitol, erythritol, polydextrose and oligofructose dissolved in water at concentrations of 43% (w/w) was investigated to analyze possible interactions between the viscous matrix and the volatiles using an experimental mixture design in combination with data analysis and response modeling tools. The dynamic release of four flavor compounds (cis-3-hexenol, benzaldehyde, ethyl butanoate and butyl isovalerate) from the matrices at 37 °C was determined by headspace analyses using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). The aim of the present study was to understand the complex release mechanisms from high-viscosity polyol and bulking agent solutions for the intention of conducting further studies on flavor release from sugar-free confectionary products. Each of the non-volatiles had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on flavor release with regression coefficients (R²) between 0.72 and 0.93 for the release parameters Imax, t½, and Δc/Δt, and 0.99 for viscosity. However, the magnitude of influence varied between the bulking agents and polyols due to their different molecular weights. A clear correlation between viscosity of the solutions and flavor release was found, revealing complex matrix-volatile interactions in the high-viscosity solutions. The release of all investigated flavor compounds decreased when the viscosity of the solutions increased. Therefore, it is assumed that the flavor release is significantly influenced by the non-volatiles when a critical concentration (c*) is exceeded. Interactions between the sugar substitutes were found to affect the viscosity of the matrices, whereas flavor release was not affected by interactions between the polyols and bulking agents investigated.

We present a novel method for real-time breath-gas analysis using mass-spectrometric techniques: buffered end-tidal (BET) on-line sampling. BET has several advantages over conventional direct on-line sampling where the subject inhales and exhales through a sampling tube. In our approach, a single exhalation is administered through a tailored tube in which the end-tidal fraction of the breath-gas sample is buffered. This increases sampling time by an order of magnitude to several seconds, improving signal quality and reducing the total measurement time per test subject. Furthermore, only one exhalation per minute is required for sampling and the test subject can otherwise maintain a normal breathing pattern, thereby reducing the risk of hyperventilation. To validate our new BET sampling method we conducted comparative measurements with direct on-line sampling using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry. We find excellent agreement in measured acetone and acetonitrile concentrations. High variability observed in breath-by-breath isoprene concentrations is attributed to differences in exhalation depth and influences of hyperventilation on end-tidal concentrations.

The volatile compositions of 192 olive oil samples from five different European countries were investigated by PTR-MS sample headspace analysis. The mass spectra of all samples showed many masses with high abundances, indicating the complex VOC composition of olive oil. Three different PLS-DA models were fitted to the data to classify samples into ‘country’, ‘region’ and ‘district’ of origin, respectively. Correct classification rates were assessed by cross-validation. The first fitted model produced an 86% success rate in classifying the samples into their country of origin. The second model, which was fitted to the Italian oils only, also demonstrated satisfactory results, with 74% of samples successfully classified into region of origin. The third model, classifying the Italian samples into district of origin, yielded a success rate of only 52%. This lower success rate might be due to either the small class set, or to genuine similarities between olive oil VOC compositions on this tight scale.

Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. var. Bel W3) plants exposed to ozone (O3) were investigated using proton-transfer-reaction mass-spectrometry (PTR-MS) and gas chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) to find a quantitative reference for plants’ responses to O3 stress. O3 exposures to illuminated plants induced post-exposure VOC emission bursts. The lag time for the onset of volatile C6 emissions produced within the octadecanoid pathway was found to be inversely proportional to O3 uptake, or more precisely, to the O3 flux density into the plants. In cases of short O3 pulses of identical duration the total amount of these emitted C6 VOC was related to the O3 flux density into the plants, and not to ozone concentrations or dose–response relationships such as AOT 40 values. Approximately one C6 product was emitted per five O3 molecules taken up by the plant. A threshold flux density of O3 inducing emissions of C6 products was found to be (1.6 ± 0.7) × 10−8 mol m−2 s−1.

We used proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) to examine the products formed when ozone reacted with the materials in a simulated aircraft cabin, including a loaded high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in the return air system. Four conditions were examined: cabin (baseline), cabin plus ozone, cabin plus soiled T-shirts (surrogates for human occupants), and cabin plus soiled T-shirts plus ozone. The addition of ozone to the cabin without T-shirts, at concentrations typically encountered during commercial air travel, increased the mixing ratio (v:v concentration) of detected pollutants from 35 ppb to 80 ppb. Most of this increase was due to the production of saturated and unsaturated aldehydes and tentatively identified low-molecular-weight carboxylic acids. The addition of soiled T-shirts, with no ozone present, increased the mixing ratio of pollutants in the cabin air only slightly, whereas the combination of soiled T-shirts and ozone increased the mixing ratio of detected pollutants to 110 ppb, with more than 20 ppb originating from squalene oxidation products (acetone, 4-oxopentanal, and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one). For the two conditions with ozone present, the more-abundant oxidation products included acetone/propanal (8-20 ppb), formaldehyde (8-10 ppb), nonanal (approximately 6 ppb), 4-oxopentanal (3-7 ppb), acetic acid (approximately 7 ppb), formic acid (approximately 3 ppb), and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one (0.5-2.5 ppb), as well as compounds tentatively identified as acrolein (0.6-1 ppb) and crotonaldehyde (0.6-0.8 ppb). The odor thresholds of certain products were exceeded. With an outdoor air exchange of 3 h(-1) and a recirculation rate of 20 h(-1), the measured ozone surface removal rate constant was 6.3 h(-1) when T-shirts were not present, compared to 11.4 h(-1) when T-shirts were present.