Etched polymeric sorbent sheets (solid-phase mesh-enhanced sorption from headspace (SPMESH) sheets) were recently described as an alternative to solid-phase microextraction (SPME) for rapid, parallel, multi-sample extraction and pre-concentration of headspace volatiles. In this report, a workflow was evaluated based on SPMESH sheet extraction followed by direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry (DART-MS) using grape samples harvested from multiple commercial vineyards at different maturities. SPMESH sheet-DART-MS(-MS) was performed on two grape-derived odorants related to wine quality: 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine (IBMP) in Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grape homogenate (n = 86 samples) and linalool in Muscat-type grape juice samples (n = 18 samples). As part of the optimization process, an MS-MS method was developed for IBMP and an equilibration procedure prior to extraction was established for homogenate samples. Following optimization, we achieved good correlation between SPMESH sheet-DART-MS and SPME-GC-MS for both IBMP (range by GC-MS = < 2 ng/L to 28 ng/L, R2 = 0.70) and linalool (range by GC-MS = 135 to 415 μg/L, R2 = 0.66). The results indicate SPMESH sheet-DART-MS is suitable for rapid measurements of trace level volatiles in grapes.
Keywords: DART-MS; SPME; grape aroma; high-throughput analysis; volatile analysis.