Analysis of bacterial fatty acids by flow modulated comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with parallel flame ionization detector/mass spectrometry

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC x GC) offers an interesting tool for profiling bacterial fatty acids. Flow modulated GC x GC using a commercially available system was evaluated, different parameters such as column flows and modulation time were optimized. The method was tested on bacterial fatty acid methyl esters (BAMEs) from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia LMG 958(T) by using parallel flame ionization detector (FID)/mass spectrometry (MS). The results are compared to data obtained using a thermal modulated GC x GC system. The data show that flow modulated GC x GC-FID/MS method can be applied in a routine environment and offers interesting perspectives for chemotaxonomy of bacteria. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.