Analysis of phospholipids in bio-oils and fats by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

•Scheduled MRM method for semi-quantitation of 14 phospholipid classes.•Novel approach for HILIC separation of phospholipid classes.•Phospholipid class selective internal standards for quantitation of the analytes.•Partial validation of the method is presented.•Method is successfully applied for the analysis of vegetable oils and fats.

A new, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometric (LC–ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for the analysis of Phospholipids (PLs) in bio-oils and fats. This analysis employs hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography–scheduled multiple reaction monitoring (HILIC–sMRM) with a ZIC–cHILIC column. Eight PL class selective internal standards (homologs) were used for the semi-quantification of 14 PL classes for the first time. More than 400 scheduled MRMs were used for the measurement of PLs with a run time of 34 min. The method's performance was evaluated for vegetable oil, animal fat and algae oil. The averaged within-run precision and between-run precision were ≤10% for all of the PL classes that had a direct homologue as an internal standard. The method accuracy was generally within 80–120% for the tested PL analytes in all three sample matrices.