Rapid measurement of ethyl carbamate in Chinese liquor by fast gas chromatography photoionization-induced chemical ionization mass spectrometry

As a common by-product during the production of alcoholic beverages, such as Chinese liquor, ethyl carbamate (EC) poses potential genotoxicity and is associated with the risk of various cancers. Hence, rapidly and accurately measuring the content of EC in liquor is critical to assess the product quality and risks of mass samples during the production process. In this study, a feasible method based on fast gas chromatography photoionization-induced chemical ionization mass spectrometry (FastGC-PICI-TOFMS) was developed for the analysis of EC in Chinese liquor. The rapid separation of EC in Chinese liquor was conducted using FastGC based on a thermostatic column set at 150 °C to eliminate the interferences of matrix effects. The PICI-TOFMS could realize accurate quantification of EC without any sample pre-treatment due to the efficient ionization of EC by the PICI source. As a result, the total analysis time for EC in Chinese liquor was less than 4 min. The limit of detection (LOD) for EC was 4.4 μg L−1. And the intra-day and inter-day precision were 3.2%–3.7 % and 1.6 %, respectively. Finally, the ability of the proposed method was preliminarily proved by high-throughput and accurate measurement of EC in four different flavors of Chinese liquors. [Display omitted] •A FastGC-PICI-TOFMS was developed for rapidly measuring EC in Chinese liquor.•The high sensitivity of PICI-TOFMS eliminated the need for sample pre-treatment.•Matrix effects of samples were eliminated by a thermostatic column at 150 °C.•The total analytical time less than 4 min with LOD as low as 4.4 μg L−1.•The method was successfully applied to analyze EC in 4 types of Chinese liquor.