Comprehensively characterising the flavour composition of essential oils (EOs) is critical due to its wide application in food, cosmetics and medicine industries. The present research aims to obtain accurate identification and quantification of 592 flavours in EOs from different plant sources using parallel dual-column gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). A strategy based on retention index distribution was introduced to simplify the optimisation process of separation distribution on the dual columns and elution distribution within the analysis process for analytes. Each analyte was identified as a unique and resolved peak through the complementary separation capacity of dual columns and the specific monitoring ability of the MS/MS transitions. To improve the accuracy of quantitative analysis, a combination of 1,2-octanediol, 1,2-nonanediol, 1,2-tetradecanediol, and phytantriol was used as analyte protectants (APs) for matrix effect compensation. The addition of APs effectively eliminated the differences in the peak response of the same analyte in pure solvent and EO samples from different plant sources. The proposed method demonstrated good linearity with correlation coefficient values above 0.999 for 72.5% analytes, high sensitivity with limit of quantifications below 10 ng/mL for 77.7% analytes, good accuracy with recoveries between 80% and 120% for 97.3% analytes, and high repeatability with relative standard deviations between 0.1% and 10.0% for 96.6% analytes at all three spiked levels. Compared to GC/MS in analysis of marigold, lavender, and fennel oils, this parallel dual-column GC-MS/MS method is a much more reliable and powerful tool for accurately identifying and quantifying ultra-multi-target flavours in EOs, which is critical for fully characterising their flavour composition, precisely controlling the quality of EO materials and further developing a new flavouring technology.

由于精油 (EO) 在食品、化妆品和医药行业的广泛应用，全面表征精油 (EO) 的风味成分至关重要。本研究旨在使用平行双柱气相色谱-串联质谱法 (GC-MS/MS) 对来自不同植物来源的 EO 中的 592 种风味进行准确鉴定和定量。引入基于保留指数分布的策略来简化分析物分析过程中双柱分离分布和洗脱分布的优化过程。通过双柱的互补分离能力和 MS/MS 转换的特定监测能力，每种分析物都被识别为一个独特且可分辨的峰。为提高定量分析的准确性，1,2-辛二醇，1，2-壬二醇、1,2-十四烷二醇和植烷三醇用作分析物保护剂 (AP) 以补偿基质效应。AP 的添加有效消除了纯溶剂和来自不同植物来源的 EO 样品中相同分析物的峰响应差异。所提出的方法表现出良好的线性，72.5% 的分析物的相关系数值高于 0.999，77.7% 的分析物的定量限低于 10 ng/mL 的高灵敏度，97.3% 的分析物的回收率在 80% 和 120% 之间的良好准确度，以及高96.6% 的分析物在所有三个加标浓度下的重复性，相对标准偏差在 0.1% 和 10.0% 之间。与金盏花、薰衣草和茴香油分析中的 GC/MS 相比，