Research Progress on Detection of Short-Chain Fatty Acids by Ion Chromatography

Ion chromatography is a rapidly developing detection technology in recent years. It has the advantages of high sensitivity, high selectivity and low sample consumption. As gut microbial metabolites, short-chain fatty acids play a crucial role in maintaining physiological health. Using "ion chromatography", "short-chain fatty acids", "sample pretreatment" as search terms, the CNKI, VIP database and PubMed database were searched, summarized and analyzed from 2007 to 2023. The pretreatment and detection methods of short-chain fatty acids using ion chromatography were summarized and generalized. The results showed that the main pretreatment methods of short-chain fatty acids included extraction, centrifugation, and pre-column derivatization, among others. Ion chromatography mostly used centrifugation and extraction. Adding an appropriate amount of hydrochloric acid to the mobile phase can enhance the retention rate of short-chain fatty acids, and the addition of organic modification reagents can improve the peak shape and resolution. Ion chromatography combined with on-line enrichment or complex matrix elimination can achieve accurate quantitative analysis of trace short-chain fatty acids. The combination of ion chromatography and mass spectrometry can meet the detection requirements of complex matrix samples, which is a trend of future development.