Degree Department

Analysis of Trace Amounts of Adulterants Found in Powders/Supplements Utilizing Direct Inject, Nanomanipulation, and Mass Spectrometry (open access)

Analysis of Trace Amounts of Adulterants Found in Powders/Supplements Utilizing Direct Inject, Nanomanipulation, and Mass Spectrometry

The regulations of many food products in the United States have been made and followed very well but unfortunately some products are not put under such rigorous standards as others. This leads to products being sold, that are thought to be healthy, but in reality contain unknown ingredients that may be hazardous to the consumers. With the use of several instrumentations and techniques the detection, characterization and identification of these unknown contaminates can be determined. Both the AZ-100 and the TE2000 inverted microscope were used for visual characterizations, image collection and to help guide the extraction. Direct analyte-probed nanoextraction (DAPNe) technique and nanospray ionization mass spectrometry (NSI-MS) was the technique used for examination and identification of all adulterants. A Raman imaging technique was than introduced and has proven to be a rapid, non-destructive and distinctive way to localize a specific adulterant. By compiling these techniques then applying them to the FDA supplied test samples three major adulterants were detected and identified.
Date: August 2016
Creator: Nnaji, Chinyere
System: The UNT Digital Library