Detailed analysis of ACETEM emulsifiers and emulsifier products.

Only a few methods are currently available for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of ACETEM emulsifiers, which are defined as acetic acid esters of mono- and diacylglycerols of edible fats and oils. These emulsifiers are structurally closely related to fats, making their analysis particularly challenging in fat-containing matrices. In the present study, an ACETEM emulsifier and an ACETEM-containing product selected by stratified random sampling are characterized using different analytical techniques such as high-performance thin-layer chromatography-fluorescence detection (HPTLC-FLD) and coupling to mass spectrometry (TLC-MS), high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to MS (HPLC-MS), direct infusion electrospray ionization tandem MS (DI-ESI-MS/MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Furthermore, a method for the semi-quantitative determination of selected ACETEM compounds by HPLC-MS/MS was developed, which involved the synthesis of four analytical standards (mono- and diacetylated glycerol 1-monopalmitate and glycerol 1-monostearate). The determination of these substances in six ACETEM emulsifiers showed that these compounds make up 16-97% of the analyzed emulsifiers, with considerable variation in the proportion of mono- and diacetylated species.