Oxalate is a naturally occurring substance found in plant foods such as fruits and vegetables. Within the body it can combine with calcium to form kidney or urinary stones. Determination of oxalate in food is important because of the potential for harmful effects on health. Search the literature for a headspace gas chromatography method for the determination of oxalate in food and answer the following questions.

(a) Give the citation (authors, title, journal name, year, volume, pages) for a research paper describing this analysis.

(b) What type of gas chromatography detector is used? Why is this detector appropriate?

(c) What are the precision, limit of quantification, and linear range of the method?

(d) How was the gas chromatographic determination validated?

(e) What alternative methods could be used for determining oxalate in food?

(f) Challenge question: What type of column was used?