The Use of Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry with High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Other Separation Techniques for Identification of Triacylglycerols

Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are widely distributed, if not universal, in edible plants and edible plant triacylglycerols are nutrients forming an important part of the human diet. TAGs of higher plants consist mainly of esters of glycerol with fatty acids, many of which are essential as human nutrients and are therefore in the center of increasing attention. Despite their importance, the molecular species of each TAG class have not yet been fully characterized. The use of state-ofthe- art techniques, especially in a combination such as that discussed in this review, permits the identification of not only TAG classes, but also their positional isomers and often also individual molecular species. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has proven to be a very valuable technique for analysis of different lipids from a variety of sources. This paper describes direct analyses of TAGs from natural oils, frequently very unusual, using LC-MS/APCI.