Using X-ray diffraction to identify ingredients

The ingredients in foods can be difficult to identify. After all, usually you are not interested in specific molecular compounds but actual ingredients which themselves are complex organic mixtures.

Rigaku has published an application report describing the analysis of pancake mix. The analysis described was performed using the Rigaku MiniFlex general-purpose X-ray diffractometer and highlights the capacities of the instrument’s analysis software.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is very useful in the analysis of complex organic mixtures. By comparing XRD patterns of unknown samples to patterns obtained from known materials, complex ingredients can be recognised.

In the pancake mix case, primary ingredients such as brown sugar, baking powder and flour are the important factors to control in the production process, rather than the molecular compounds that make up the ingredients.

Although the primary database for these XRD patterns is compiled and maintained by the International Center for Diffraction Data (ICDD), the preferred XRD patterns for the primary ingredients may not all be present in the database.

In such cases, the MiniFlex analysis software allows users to make their own databases based on user-collected patterns from common or significant materials in the process.

Phase identification and quality control of the pancake mix can therefore be done by collecting XRD patterns of the individual ingredients and adding them to the user database of the software.

The results displayed in the report are derived from the individual raw ingredients being scanned and overlaid.

Each of the individual raw materials was scanned and the patterns were saved to a database.

The results show the overlay of newly added patterns to the database with the original XRD pancake mix pattern, confirming the identity of the individual compounds.

The pancake article, along with other food science-related XRD analyses, can be seen at www.rigaku.com/en/products/xrd/miniflex/apps/2.

The Rigaku MiniFlex general-purpose X-ray diffractometer.