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Advancements in Analytical Chemistry for the Analysis and Detection of Food and Environment

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Analytical Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 831

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Pao-Chi Liao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
Interests: analytical chemistry; food analysis; environmental analysis; innovative qualitative/quantitative detection techniques; trace analysis; food quality/safety; environmental protection/management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advancements in analytical chemistry have significantly enhanced our ability to profile qualitatively/quantitatively various chemical compounds in food and environmental samples. Modern techniques such as chromatography, electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and spectroscopy, as well as emerging nanotechnology, novel big data collection/processing, and artificial intelligence, have enabled speedy analysis and precise identification, even at trace levels, of innumerable chemicals in the food and environment. These advancements warrant food product quality and safety by meeting stringent regulatory standards and play a pivotal role in environmental protection/management by monitoring pollution levels in various ecosystems. This Special Issue aims to collect articles on advanced analytical strategies/procedures for analyzing and detecting chemical compounds in food and environmental samples. Original research, short communications, and reviews that explore cutting-edge techniques and methodologies in this critical field are welcomed. It is hoped that further collaborations in this critical field will be inspired by showcasing these advancements.

Prof. Dr. Pao-Chi Liao
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • analytical chemistry
  • food analysis
  • environmental analysis
  • innovative qualitative/quantitative detection techniques
  • trace analysis
  • food quality/safety
  • environmental protection/management

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 261 KiB  
Article
High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Identification, Quantification, and Risk Assessment of 40 PFAS Migrating from Microwave Popcorn Bags
by Jen-Yi Hsu, Huei-Jie Jiang, Chih-Wei Chang, Yuan-Chih Chen and Pao-Chi Liao
Molecules 2025, 30(9), 1989; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30091989 (registering DOI) - 29 Apr 2025
Abstract
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely utilized in food contact materials (FCMs) due to their water- and oil-repellent properties, yet their potential migration into food raises significant health concerns. This study employs high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) to quantify the migration of 40 [...] Read more.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely utilized in food contact materials (FCMs) due to their water- and oil-repellent properties, yet their potential migration into food raises significant health concerns. This study employs high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) to quantify the migration of 40 PFAS from microwave popcorn bags and assess the associated health risks. HRMS offers high mass accuracy and resolution, enabling precise detection of a broad spectrum of PFASs, including those with low migration levels. Migration experiments were conducted using 10% ethanol and 50% ethanol as food simulants at 70 °C for 2 h. The results indicate that when risk assessment is based solely on the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for four PFAS, hazard ratio (HR) values range from 0.01 to 0.8, suggesting minimal risk. However, when all PFAS are converted into perfluorooctanoic acid equivalents (PEQs) and compared against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) reference dose (RfD), HR values range from 0.3 to 142.3, indicating a significantly elevated health risk. These findings emphasize the necessity of comprehensive risk assessments incorporating the cumulative effects of all PFAS to better understand potential human exposure and inform regulatory policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Analytical Chemistry for the Analysis and Detection of Food and Environment)
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27 pages, 5110 KiB  
Article
Characterization of the Differences in Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) Adsorbed on Five Kinds of Microplastics Using Multiple Methods
by Xianshu Fu, Xiangliang Pan, Jun Chen, Mingzhou Zhang, Zihong Ye and Xiaoping Yu
Molecules 2025, 30(7), 1586; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30071586 - 2 Apr 2025
Viewed by 353
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, soils, and beach sediments, demonstrating a remarkable ability to adsorb dissolved organic matter (DOM). Although there are methods for extracting DOM from water, the approaches for directly extracting DOM from microplastics have not been thoroughly investigated, [...] Read more.
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, soils, and beach sediments, demonstrating a remarkable ability to adsorb dissolved organic matter (DOM). Although there are methods for extracting DOM from water, the approaches for directly extracting DOM from microplastics have not been thoroughly investigated, and the characterization of DOM adsorbed on microplastics is also insufficient. In this study, five different types of microplastic samples were collected from each of five environmental media (water and sediment), and finally 25 samples were obtained. This paper comparatively assessed the extraction efficiency of DOM from MPs with various solvents by using total organic carbon (TOC), culminating in the development of a sodium pyrophosphate-NaOH solution extraction method optimized for DOM. The morphology, material and environmental medium of microplastics were the three primary factors affecting the adsorption of DOM on microplastics, with the highest enrichment ratio of 1.4–1.8 times for extruded polyethylene microplastics (EPE-MPs) characterized by their porous structure in the flowing water environment. The molecular weight of DOM adsorbed on microplastics showed a multi-modal distribution pattern with great dissimilarities among the different environmental media. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) indicated that the weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of DOM was 2750–4552 Da for river MPs, 2760–5402 Da for Qiantang River MPs, 1233–5228 Da for East China Sea MPs, 440–7302 Da for soil sediment MPs and 438–6178 Da for beach sediment MPs, respectively. Excitation-emission matrix-parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC) identified that tyrosine-like substances with high excitation in region IV and low excitation in region I were predominantly adsorbed on MPs, followed by tryptophan-like substances with low excitation in region II and protein-like substances in region IV, while humic- and fulvic-like substances in regions V and III, respectively, exhibited the least adsorption affinity. The findings underscored the critical need to comprehensively consider the interactions between MPs and DOM and their environmental impacts in pollution control strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Analytical Chemistry for the Analysis and Detection of Food and Environment)
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