Sensitive and Selective Quantification of Acrylamide in French Fries and Canola Oil by Fluorous Derivatization with Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Acrylamide is a carcinogen produced when foods containing sugar and asparagine are heated to 120 °C or higher during thermal cooking. As efforts are underway globally to reduce acrylamide intake, simple and practical methods to determine its levels in foods are needed. In this study, a highly sensitive and selective analytical method using liquid chromatography (LC) with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was developed for acrylamide detection. The <i>α,β</i>-unsaturated carbonyl structure in acrylamide was derivatized with perfluoroalkyl thiol, and the obtained derivative was analyzed based on fluorous properties without interference from food product contaminants. The feasibility of this method was demonstrated by analyzing common food products, such as French fries and canola oil. Acrylamide in the food samples was directly derivatized by adding a perfluoroalkyl thiol reagent-containing solution to the samples without any extraction steps. After delipidation, the fluorous-derivatized acrylamide was separated and detected using a fluorous LC column and an MS/MS system, respectively. The detection sensitivity of acrylamide using this method was 185-fold higher than that of the underivatized form. Therefore, this method is applicable for analyzing trace amounts of acrylamide in food samples and monitoring the acrylamide formation and migration processes during the cooking of French fries.