A GC-MS method has been applied to screen and evaluate the generation of chemical compounds during the biodegradation of polystyrene (PS) with Tenebrio molitor larvae. Several resulting compounds have been identified, including trimers 2,4,6-triphenyl-1-hexene and 1,3,5-triphenylcyclohexane, the volatiles acetophenone and cumyl alcohol, and 2,4-di-tert butylphenol, a non-intentionally added substance (NIAS) present in the plastic material. The PS monomers styrene and α-methyl styrene were also identified in the extracts. Bioactive molecules present in the biomass of the studied insects were identified, such as the free fatty acids myristic, palmitic, and oleic acid. Undecanoic acid was also found, but in lower mass fractions. Finally, biochemically formatted amides resulting from their respective fatty acids were identified, namely tetradecanamide, hexadecanamide and oleamide. The formation of all these substances seems to suggest enzymatic and biochemical activity occurring during the biodegradation of PS, and their amounts varied throughout the experience. The overall degradation rate of PS resulted in a 13% rate, which highlights the potential of biorecycling using these insects.

Chemical substances shall not migrate from food contact materials (FCM) at levels that are potentially harmful for the consumers. Each of the current analytical methods applied to verify the migration of substances from FCM covers only one or few substances. There is a very limited number of publications on the development of analytical methods allowing the simultaneous determination of several classes of FCM substances, and almost none of them reported methods entirely dedicated to the ones in the positive list of Commission Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011 for plastic FCMs. Therefore, a simple, sensitive and reliable multi-analyte method was developed for the analysis of FCM substances in food simulants. It employs an optimised liquid-liquid extraction with dichloromethane as extraction solvent in the presence of 10% m/v NaCl, followed by quantitative analysis with gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A combination of total ion chromatograms (TICs) and extracted ion chromatograms (EICs) was used. The optimisation and validation of the method have been carried out according to current international guidelines. Adequate sensitivity was demonstrated in the selected concentration ranges for most of the analytes, with limits of quantification (LOQs) at least three times lower than the legislative limit, when existing. The results showed that the method is sufficiently accurate for the majority of substances, with recoveries between 70 and 115% and relative standard deviations (RSDs) smaller than 20% at three concentration levels. The method was applied to the analysis of some FCM multilayers. The method allows, for the first time, the simultaneous quantification of 84 FCM substances in two of the official food simulants (A and C) at levels of a few ng g⁻¹.

The use of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) as a food contact material is increasing over the last years. Typical contaminations in the final PBT product include its cyclic oligomers, which are allowed as additives in food contact plastics according to Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011. Their investigation is currently limited by the lack of analytical standards and physical-chemical information. Therefore, four PBT cyclic oligomers have been isolated and purified from a PBT raw material with an automated preparative HPLC-DAD system. Comprehensive characterization of the compounds was performed using Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) with high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry, Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The purity of each oligomer was assessed using a ¹H qNMR method and ranged from 96.1% to 97.0% for PBT tetramer and trimer respectively. The availability of pure and well characterized PBT cyclic oligomer standards will facilitate future studies of release from plastic food packaging materials.

Oligomers are a particular category of non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) that may be present in food contact materials (FCMs), such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and consequently migrate into foods. Here, an ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-qTOF-MS) method was developed for the analysis of 1st series cyclic PET oligomers in virgin olive oil (VOO) following a QuEChERS clean-up protocol. Oligomer migration was evaluated with two different migration experiments using bottles from virgin and recycled PET: one with VOO samples stored in household conditions for a year and one using the food simulant D2 (95% v/v ethanol in water) at 60 °C for 10 days. Calibration curves were constructed with fortified VOO samples, with the LOQs ranging from 10 to 50 µg L⁻¹ and the recoveries ranging from 86.6 to 113.0%. Results showed no migration of PET oligomers in VOO. However, in the simulated study, significant amounts of all oligomers were detected, with the migration of cyclic PET trimers from recycled bottles being the most abundant. Additional substances were tentatively identified as linear derivatives of PET oligomers. Again, open trimer structures in recycled bottles gave the most significant signals.

The rapid dispersion of new psychoactive substances (NPS) presents challenges to customs services and analytical laboratories, which are involved in their detection and characterization. When the seized material is limited in quantity or of a complex nature, or when the target substance is present in very small amounts, the need to use advanced analytical techniques, efficient workflows and chemo-informatics tools is essential for the complete identification and elucidation of these substances. The current work describes the application of such a workflow in the analysis of a single blotter paper, seized by Swedish customs, that led to the identification of a lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) derivative, 1-butyl-lysergic acid diethylamide (1B-LSD). Such blotter paper generally contains an amount in the range of 30–100 ug. This substance, which is closely related to 1-propionyl-lysergic acid diethylamide (1P-LSD), seems to have only recently reached the drug street market. Its identification was made possible by comprehensively combining gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection (GC–MS), liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution tandem MS (LC–HR-MS/MS), Orbitrap-MS and both 1D and 2D nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. All the obtained data have been managed, assessed, processed and evaluated using a chemo-informatics platform to produce the effective chemical and structural identification of 1B-LSD in the seized material.