Quantitative Determination\nof Volatile <i>N</i>‑Nitrosamines in Meat Products\nUsing Gas Chromatography Coupled\nto an Ion Mobility Spectrometer with an Ammonia Dopant

Herein, we develop a novel method using gas chromatography-ion\nmobility spectrometry (IMS) with an ammonia dopant for the determination\nof volatile <i>N</i>-nitrosamines in meat products. The\nIMS system was implemented with Fourier deconvolution multiplexing\nto simultaneously improve the resolving power and sensitivity. The\nammonia dopant mitigated the formation of <i>N</i>-nitrosamine\ndimer ions, suppressing the ionization of interferents and shifting\nthe reactant peak from hydrated protons to hydrated ammonium ions.\nThe ammonium adduct product ions of <i>N</i>-nitrosamines\nwere confirmed using time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The instrument\nlimits of detection and quantitation for nitrosamines were 0.78–1.79\nand 2.60–5.82 ng/mL, respectively, with recoveries between\n71.39% and 110.59% using a simple water distillation method. The developed\nmethod showed satisfactory performance when applied to the detection\nof nitrosamines in various meat products.