Supervisor: Prof. Colombini Perla

Title: APCI-MS characterization of glycerolipids and polyphenols in complex matrices.

Abstract: The main goal of the project is to evaluate the performance of HPLC-APCI-MS and ESI-MS-QTOF in the complex archaeometric problem of resolving mixtures of aged lipid materials and reconstituting the original lipid component of ancient residues. The analytical protocol is set up using a comparative study based on the evaluation of triacylglycerol (TAG) compositions in raw natural lipid materials and in laboratory-reproduced formulation, prepared following recipes reported in historical treatises and used as reference materials. These reference materials are also subjected to stress treatments in order to evaluate the modification occurring in the TAG profiles as an effect of ageing. To differentiate the lipid materials on the basis of the TAG profiles, pattern analysis of the TAG distributions by means of principal components analysis (PCA) is applied. New markers, that can be used by the scientific community in the challenge of discriminating various oils and fats, are also investigated.