Enhanced gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates analysis

•GC-MS response factor of homologous PHA monomers has a linear correlation with carbon number.•Retention time of homologous PHA monomers is linearly-correlated to carbon number under GC-MS analysis.•Predicted response factor enabled reliable quantification of PHA in the absence of analytical standards.•Retention times of PHA could be reliably predicted without analytical standards.

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for quantification of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), containing 4-carbon to 16-carbon monomers, even in the absence of standards, was developed. Strong linear correlations existed between PHA carbon number and retention time/response factor (R2 ≥ 0.987). Based on the correlations, high recovery values, between 100.5% and 114.3%, were obtained for PHA polymers.