Determination of methanol-derivatives in drying oils after metal oxide-based dispersive solid phase extraction/QuEChERS clean-up.

The determination of secondary volatile degradation products in drying oil extracts is substantial to prevent formation of undesirable metal formates in paintings and/or other artefacts. This study develops a simple, cost-effective, and reliable, high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) method to determine three secondary volatile degradation products (methanol, formaldehyde, and formic acid) in drying oils, including linseed, poppy-seed, and walnut oil. Extraction of analytes was performed using QuEChERS-based procedure followed by metal oxide-based dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) clean-up and presented a good performance for all of the volatile analytes of interest with recoveries in the range of 90-120% after application of the nanostructured cerium oxide-based (CeO) and zirconia-based (ZrO) sorbents prepared by favorable and ecological-friendly methods.