Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) has been widely used in the food industry for its specific pungent odor and antibacterial effect. In this study, we measured stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of AITC by elemental analysis/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA/IRMS) in order to evaluate their potential as a conventional tool for discrimination between natural (i.e., plant-derived) and artificial products. A significant difference in the isotopic compositions for carbon (2–4‰) and nitrogen (22–30‰) was obtained between natural (N = 4) and artificial products (N = 2), which implies that isotopic analysis is potentially useful to discrimination natural and artificial AITCs, even though the number of examined samples is still small at this moment. We also demonstrated the carbon isotope analysis of AITC painted on plastic sheets by gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/IRMS), which may suggest that isotope analysis is applicable to not only pure AITCs, but also to those found in complex mixtures as various industrial products.
