Advanced Gel Permeation Chromatography system with increased loading capacity: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons detection in olive oil as a case of study

Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is herein used as size exclusion clean-up technique for highly sensitive and straightforward detection of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in olive oil samples. An advanced chromatographic system has been developed to isolate a series of PAHs with cancerogenic potential, including PAH4 (benzo(a)pyrene BaP, benzo(a)anthracene BaA, benzo(b)fluoranthene BbF and chrysene Chry) reported in the European Regulation. The system avails of two glass chromatographic columns and a switching valve, that allow removal of interfering analytes in olive oil without resorting to any preliminary extraction process. A seven-fold increase of the loaded sample amount versus conventional chromatographic systems (1 g vs 0.150 g) has been pursued, as well as improved PAHs detection and quantification limits (LOD-LOQ for PAH4: 0.21–0.70 ng/g for BaA, 0.26–0.86 ng/g for Chry, 0.23–0.76 ng/g for BbF, 0.32–1.06 ng/g for BaP), in accordance with the continuous need of more and more reducing these limits in food analysis by the European Regulation. The protocol developed represents a highly innovative and efficient analytical method for organic pollutants in complex biological matrices as olive oil, that can have huge impact on technology for PAHs detection in food samples, being suitable for both industrial and small-scale laboratories.