Capillary GC Determination of Amines in Aqueous Samples Using Sorptive Preconcentration on Polydimethylsiloxane and Polyacrylate Phases

The use of sorptive extraction/thermal desorption (SE/TD) for the enrichment of amines from aqueous samples was investigated. The amines were derivatized in situ in the water sample by pentafluorobenzoyl chloride and subsequently enriched onto the SE cartridge. Two SE/TD cartridges were used, a commercially available polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) packed cartridge and a similar cartridge prepared with newly synthesized poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA). Blank profiles of PBA were not as good as those obtained from the PDMS phase. A complex chromatogram was obtained using mass spectrometric detection. Fortunately, the use of a nitrogen-phosphorus detector (NPD) resulted in clean blanks. The PBA phase showed superior performance for the enrichment of the polar amine derivatives from water samples compared to the PDMS material. Using a CGC-NPD set-up and only 1 mL samples, detection limits are in the sub-ppb range.