Standard (SBSE) and Solvent-Assisted (SA-SBSE) Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction were both applied for profiling of flavor compounds in a matrix-heavy beverage sample. Unlike standard SBSE, SA-SBSE uses a solvent swollen polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stir bar for extraction and enhanced recovery of polar compounds. After extraction compounds were recovered from both stir bars by liquid desorption (LD) – large volume injection (LVI) and transferred to the analytical system for GC-MS analysis, with each sample run consecutively to give duplicate data files.

The extra solvent dimension in SA-SBSE allows detection of more polar compounds, but the increased response of these compounds can sometimes obscure compounds which are more readily detected by standard SBSE. This leads to a result where a common set of compounds could be detected by both SBSE and SA-SBSE, but also each separate mode giving a unique set of compounds. This additional interpretation complexity can be simplified by employing both mass spectrometric (MS) and retention index (RI) information for compound detection. Aroma Office 2D applies automatic searching of a total ion chromatogram (TIC) and has a built-in requirement for positive detection only with agreement of both MS spectral information and corresponding RI values for compounds.