Improved fatty acid detection in micro-algae and aquatic meiofauna species using a direct thermal desorption interface combined with comprehensive gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) with time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection is used to profile the fatty acid composition of whole/intact aquatic microorganisms such as the common fresh water green algae Scenedesmus acutus and the filamentous cyanobacterium Limnothrix sp. strain MRI without any sample preparation steps. It is shown that the technique can be useful in the identification of lipid markers in food-web as well as environmental studies. For instance, new mono- and diunsaturated fatty acids were found in the C