GC-MS Analysis and PLS-DA Validation of the Trimethyl Silyl-Derivatization Techniques

Problem statement: Comparison and validation analysis of the conventional and power-adjusted Microwave-Assisted (MA) techniques of TMS derivatization using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Multivariate Analysis (MVA) of Partial Least Squares Analysis (PLS-DA). Further improvement of the conventional technique using vigorous shaking was tested and analyzed. Approach: Cross-validation and response permutation test of PLS-DA and S-plot of Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) was applied to the extracellular data of Lactococcus lactis, which was analyzed by GC-MS. The analyzed samples were firstly derivatized using Methoximination (MeOX) and N-methyl-N-trimethylsilyl fluoroacetamide (MSTFA) followed by conventional and power-adjusted Microwave-Assisted (MA) heating treatment. Results: The supervised PLS-DA applied to extracellular data failed to show the same clustering results between conventional and power-adjusted Microwave-Assisted (MA) techniques. It was suggested that the type of heating used in the derivatization techniques had affected the detection of groups of metabolites. Furthermore using the UV-scaling method, S-plot and Variable Importance for Projection (VIP), about 40 metabolites that were responsible towards the clustering and separation showed in PLS-DA score plots were successfully indicated. Conventional technique with vigorous shaking showed clear clustering according to groups compared to MA technique. Conclusion: Type of heating applied to the TMS derivatization showed effects towards the detection of metabolites where conventional technique indicated strong clustering compared to MA technique.