Identification and quantification of methyl nicotinate in rice (Oryza sativa L.) by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

During the course of analysis of popular rice varieties cultivated in India towards identification of their aroma compounds, methyl nicotinate (MN), a medicinal and flavour additive compound, was identified for the first time in rice samples. A simple direct solvent extraction method using 300 mg of the sample is developed to extract MN in rice samples and detected by capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. Quantitative analysis of MN is performed for polished rice, brown rice and rice bran samples from five rice varieties that are widely produced in India by using GC–MS operating under SIM mode (m/z 106). The quantity of MN is in the range of 0.63–1.30 μg/g, 1.37–3.99 μg/g and 1.87–12.04 μg/g for polished rice, brown rice and rice bran samples, respectively. Breeding programmes for rice with high concentrations of MN can be greatly facilitated by establishing the concentrations of the MN in new cultivars. This method is more economic with less time consumption and enables fast screening of a large number of samples.