Reliable identification of terpenoids and related compounds by using linear retention indices interactively with mass spectrometry search

An innovative tool in GC-MS peak assignment procedures is described. Besides considering the conventional spectra similarity matching, Linear Retention Indices are used as filters for enhancing reliability in Compounds identification, especially in those cases ruled by ambiguity and uncertainty. This is a common issue when analyzing natural compounds (e.g. terpenoids) present in flavors, essential oils and fragrances that give rise to similar fragmentation patterns, and thus, to approximately identical spectra, making harder the unequivocal identification by the databases. Some applications of the method and its capabilities are reported.