Chemical profiling of triacylglycerols and diacylglycerols in cow milk fat by ultra-performance convergence chromatography combined with a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

An ultra-performance convergence chromatography (UPC2) system coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF-MS) was successfully utilised to analyse triacylglycerols and diacylglycerols in cow milk fat. This novel approach obtained an improved resolution of triacylglycerols in comparison to previously reported chromatographic methods combined with MS detector in a shorter analytical time. A total of 49 triacylglycerols and 7 diacylglycerols were identified according to their secondary MS profiles and elementary composition. Furthermore, UPC2 is an environmental friendly analytical method with a drastic reduction of organic solvent usage. The established UPC2-MS approach has potential application in lipidomics as an alternative method besides LC–MS and GC–MS.