Philippe Merle

• Master of Science
• Senior Researcher at Firmenich

This publication presents the collaborative work conducted in CEN/TC 347/WG4 ‘Fragrance and colophony’ working group to evaluate the robustness of a GC–MS analytical methodology to quantify the extended list of 57 fragrance allergens in ‘ready to inject’ samples. The intention of this group was to provide an updated and consensual standard for the...

This paper focuses on several methodological aspects in the quantitation of volatiles in solid samples by headspace solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography and parallel detection by flame ionization detector and mass spectrometry (GC-FID/MS). Informative volatiles, including key odorants and process markers, from sin...

The capture of volatile patterns from food is a fingerprinting that opens access to a high level of information related to functional variables (origin, processing, shelf-life etc.) and their impact on sample composition and quality. When the focus is on food volatilome, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography combined with time-of-flight...

The forthcoming extension of the regulated fragrance allergen number is raising a challenge: the previously developed quantification methods need to be drastically improved in terms of rapidity, without altering their reliability. This work describes a procedure based on comprehensive bidimensional gas chromatography, hyphenated with a low-cost qua...

Poster 39th ISEO 2008 7-10 september, Quedlindburg, Germany

This recommended practice enables the quantification of volatile compounds in flavourings to be made by gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection, without having authentic compounds available, and also in many cases it can avoid time-consuming calibration procedures. The relative-response factors (RRF) can be predicted from the molecular f...

We previously showed that the relative response factors of volatile compounds were predictable from either combustion enthalpies or their molecular formulae only [1]. We now extend this prediction to silylated derivatives by adding an increment in the ab initio calculation of combustion enthalpies. The accuracy of the experimental relative response...

The persistence of synthetic cyclohexyl- and norbornyl-derived ketones was assessed by using OECD 301F and 301D biodegradation tests. While cyclohexyl-derived ketones either reached or came close to the pass level (60%) after 60d, the corresponding norbornyl derivatives yielded significantly less biodegradation (<40%). By analyzing extracts at 60d,...

Citrus cold pressed oils are of great importance to the flavour and fragrance industry. Because of their high added value, careful attention must be paid to ensure the oils' genuineness and authenticity. Characterising their chemical complexity in a holistic perspective constitutes a potent way to relate specific compounds to the organoleptic prope...

In a previous report, we validated the use of a database that compiled the relative response factors of flavor and fragrance compounds under standard GC conditions for a flame ionization detector. Here we investigate the prediction of unknown response factors from the molecular structure by using combustion enthalpies. In a first step, this enthalp...

In this study, usual methods commonly applied to report the quantitative composition of flavours, fragrances and essential oils were compared. The MS determinations without response factors exhibited a lack of accuracy and reproducibility. FID provided better results, but the determinations were still unsatisfactory. The best results were obtained...