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Table 2 Advantages and disadvantages of various analytical methods for fatty acid analysis

From: Assessing diatom-mediated fatty acids in intertidal biofilm: a new conservation concern

Method

Advantages

Disadvantages

Gas chromatography flame–ionization detection (GC/FID) (Tang and Row 2013; Fisk et al. 2014; Schnurr et al. 2019, 2020)

Established for mudflat FA analysis

Cost-effective

Extensive sample prep and derivatization

Destructive

Insensitive

Low specificity

Does not provide structural information

Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) (Tang and Row 2013; Fisk et al. 2014; Bergamino et al. 2014)

Established for mudflat FA analysis

Provides structural information

Extensive sample prep and derivatization required

Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) (Brondz 2002; Schlotterbeck et al. 2018)

Limited sample preparation required

Provides structural information

Sensitive

Less established in mudflat FA analysis

Expensive

Liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight (LC/QTOF) (Molina-Calle et al. 2017; Schlotterbeck et al. 2018)

Limited sample preparation

Provides structural information

High resolution

High mass accuracy

Less established in mudflat FA analysis

Expensive

Fourier transform infrared (FT/IR) spectroscopy (Karunathilaka et al. 2017; Aryee et al. 2009; Gieroba et al. 2020)

Rapid

Non-destructive

Spectra can be distorted by water

Provides limited data compared to other methods

  1. FA fatty acid