In my master's thesis, I studied determination of volatile compounds in honey with the use of GC-MS. I first optimised the method for their determination. I was looking for a suitable way to prepare the samples. In doing so, I found out that the addition of saturated aqueous NaCl solution aids in the extraction of the compounds. After that I optimised the extraction time and temperature, as well as the temperature program. Using the prepared method, I determined the volatile compounds in floral, forest, acacia, lime, fir, spruce and chestnut honey. I determined the presence of 148 compounds, with lime honey containing the most variety. With the obtained mass spectra and their comparison with the NIST library, I was able to identify some of the compounds. In others I determined the structural fragments of which they are composed. I found out that these compounds are mainly alcohols, aldehydes, acids and esters. There are many terpenes and terpenoids. For a more definite identification, I used the same method to analyse some standards. I found that some of the honey samples analysed contained furfural, 2-methylbutanic acid, styrene, benzyl alcohol, phenylacetaldehyde, acetophenone and phenylacetic acid. However, no sample contained decanoic acid, dodecanol or quinolin-5-ol.
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