Exploration of the problems and solutions related to reference introduction prior to calibration of thermal desorber–gas chromatography

Reference introduction in thermal desorption with gas chromatography is a critical aspect. It is mostly performed by offline liquid calibration using a micro syringe to inject a liquid standard solution on the sorbent in the thermal desorption tube. This is based on the assumptions that the adsorption‐desorption process is quantitative and that no sample is lost in manipulating the tube. However, for analytical procedures involving thermal extraction of solid matrices, the adsorption‐desorption processes for sample and reference differ and the assumptions are not always fulfilled. This is explored in this work. First, issues related to the online liquid calibration were investigated. With tubes containing only quartz filters, a relative loss of over 80% was noticed for some solvents due to tube manipulation processes. Enclosing a bed of mesoporous silica as sorbent limited the losses to about 25% when samples were immediately analysed, and even better results were obtained when tubes were stored for several hours so that proper adsorption could take place. An additional sweep gas during loading boosted the transfer of analytes with recoveries above 95%. Next, an inline injection system was installed on the thermal desorber instrument. This sorbent free, independent calibration tool avoids the drawbacks of other approaches.     

Analysis of C10-C20 hydrocarbons in natural gas by solid phase extraction and CGC

A method is described for the determination of C10-C20 hydrocarbons in natural gas. Enrichment by solid phase extraction on ODS followed by liquid desorption was found to give better results than adsorption on Tenax or charcoal followed by liquid or thermal desorption.     

Thermal desorption characterisation of molecularly imprinted polymers. Part I: a novel study using direct-probe GC-MS analysis

A novel thermal desorption technique using a direct-probe device (Chromatoprobe) attached to a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer is presented for the thermal pretreatment, characterisation and analysis of molecularly imprinted polymers. The technique is demonstrated as effective for the removal of volatile materials, including template and unreacted monomers, from methacrylic acid–ethylene glycol dimethacrylate copolymers imprinted with 2-aminopyridine. Mass spectrometry is a powerful technique for polymer bleed characterisation. Thermal desorption studies on reloaded template and related compounds are reported as a means of assessing polymer morphology, specific binding by imprinted polymers compared with reference non-imprinted polymers and selective binding by an imprinted polymer for its template. Calibration studies on the thermal desorption technique using an internal standard are presented with R ² > 0.999. The technique provides a novel method for assessment of polymer thermal stability, composition and morphology.     

热解吸调制,顶空—毛细管气相色谱法测定二元液系的活度系数

本文采用热解吸调制器作毛细管气相色谱直接顶空进样测定二元液体混合物苯－甲苯和丙酮－氯仿的活度系数。热解吸调制器是在毛细管柱前端的一段短的加热段。调制器段外部镀以一薄层导电膜。所体样品连续不断地流经调制器和毛细管柱。     

用于昆虫外激素研究的微量顶空收集及热解吸气相色谱进样方法初探

描述了一个结合项空气流收集与无溶剂热解吸气相色谱进样的方法。用填充PorapskQ的微量注射器作为吸附管进行气流收集。将收集物不经溶剂洗脱直接进行热解吸进样。用人工合成的昆虫外激素化合物反-7-十二碳单烯乙酸酯（E-7-DA）及顺-5,反-7-十二碳二烯乙酸酯（Z-5,E-7-DDA）测定了方法的回收率,初步探索了运用于昆虫外激素分析的可行性,并讨论了提高回收率的途径。     

二级热脱附-气相色谱-质谱联用测定大气可吸入颗粒物中的16种多环芳烃

建立了二级热脱附-气相色谱-质谱联用技术测定大气可吸入颗粒物PM10中16种多环芳烃的分析方法。对二级热脱附和色谱-质谱条件进行了优化。实验结果表明,方法的检出限为0.14～0.42 ng/m3,平均加标回收率为52.7%～97.9%,相对标准偏差(RSD)为8.0%～18.4%。与传统方法相比,该方法的样品前处理时间短、有机溶剂的使用量少,是对人体及环境友善的检测技术。该方法已应用于32份实际大气颗粒物样品的分析。     

Determination of Aromatic Arsines in Environmental Solids by Direct Thermal Desorption Gas Chromatography

To quantify aromatic arsines in the environment, such as World War I era chemical warfare agents and degradation products of arsenicals used in agriculture, a sensitive, selective, and direct method is needed. We describe the development and optimization of a method for the measurement of trace levels of triphenylarsine used as a model aromatic arsenic compound. Triphenylarsine was determined at low µg/g levels in sand, soil, and lake sediment by thermal desorption before gas–liquid chromatography (GC) with mass spectrometric and pulsed flame photometric detection. The dithiol derivative of phenylarsonic acid was used as an internal standard, thereby significantly improving the precision of the method. The desorption conditions were studied and found to be optimal at 350°C for 15?min. Significant improvement in precision was realized by preparing the solid samples as slurries in acetone and by inserting a small (～100?mg) quartz wool plug into the sample vial. The method was applied to determine triphenylarsine in authentic soil and sediment samples that had been fortified with triphenylarsine and aged for at least 15 days. Recoveries for soil samples ranged from 84.3?±?2.3 to 87.7?±?1.3%, while lower recoveries were obtained for sediment samples (75.1?±?3.0%). The detection limit for triphenylarsine in soil was 3.14?ng with a precision of 7.10% (n?=?4). Using these optimized conditions, the performance of the direct thermal desorption GC method for sample introduction was greatly improved compared to methods that have been reported in the literature.     

用于离子迁移率谱仪的快速热解析进样方法

热解析是用于离子迁移率谱仪(IMS)的液体和固体样品进样的重要手段,但在检测高沸点或易分解有机物时,存在易重新凝结或过热分解的问题.本研究建立了一种与IMS半透膜结合的热解析进样方法,设计了可快速加热的微型热解析装置,通过热子通电发热及热电偶测温实现对样品解析区域的升温控制,提高半透膜的进样效率.以低浓度三聚氰胺溶液为...     

气提吸附／热脱附／气相色谱－质谱法分析污水中的痕量有机物

采用气提吸附／热脱附／气相色谱－质谱法对齐鲁公司所处地区工业污水进行分析。方法采用Ｔｅｎａｘ－ＧＣ吸附剂对样品进行气提吸附，脱附时样品直接进入色谱仪汽化室，一次进样即可完成全组分分析，共检测出含四氯丙醚在内的４０种有机组分，测定了各组分的程序升温保留指数。气相色谱－质谱法测定出四氯丙醚三个异构体的结构。     

热解析低温等离子体电离源用于糯高粱中农药残留的快速筛查

本研究设计并搭建了一套热解析低温等离子体电离源(TD-LTP),与质谱联用实现了糯高粱中农药残留的快速和高灵敏检测.TD-LTP由热解析装置和低温等离子体放电源两部分组成,农药残留样品首先在热解析进样器内汽化,再由载气载带进入等离子体区域被电离.热解析进样器使LTP产生的气相等离子体与样品之间的气-固或气-液相互作用转变为气-气相互作用,大大提高了难挥发样品(如农药)的电离效率;电离源与质谱进样口之间采用同轴连接,提高了离子的利用率和传输效率.与传统的LTP电离源相比,TD-LTP电离源的灵敏度提高了8倍以上,稳定性提高了4倍.本研究对热解析低温等离子体电离源的各参数进行了优化,并与自制的矩形离子阱质谱相结合,研究了12种农药在该电离源下的特征离子.最后,将此电离源与商品化的三重四极杆质谱仪联用,对糯高粱样品中的12种农药残留进行了快速筛查,结果表明,本方法灵敏度高,可以满足食品安全国家标准规定的谷物中农药残留最大限量检测要求.     

Initial bandwidth resulting from splitless and solid phase microextraction gas chromatographic injections

The initial width of the injected solute bands is a major determinant of the final measured peak width. While the individual processes contributing to this intial width have been observed and described qualitatively by many authors, little attention has been focused on their quantitative relationship. Using solid phase microextraction (SPME) and splitless injections of a hydrocarbon test mixutre the contributions to overall peak variance in SPME and splitless injections can be separated and quantitated. In SPME, it is seen that thermal focusing or rapid desorption must serve to provide focused bands. In splitless, thermal fucusing and solvent effects provide focusing. Variance contributions for each of these are calculated and shown.     

Dynamic headspace enrichment/reinjection for open tubular GC/FTIR analysis of volatiles in polymers

An analytical system for the analysis of volatiles entrained in polymers is described. This system is based on a thermal desorption oven connected to a cold trap. After enrichment of headspace vapor, trapped material is reinjected and analyzed by open tubular gas chromatography/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, OTGC/FTIR. The thermal desorption oven is designed to provide different modes of sample introduction: use of a pyroprobe; insertion of a piece of quartz tubing with applied sample; or syringe injection. Headspace enrichment is carried out in a piece of fused silica capillary tubing filled with glass beads. The trap may be cooled either electrically using Peltier elements or with liquid nitrogen. A six-port rotary valve is used for flow switching between enrichment and reinjection modes. All system parameters, temperatures, and timed events, are controlled from the gas chromatograph. Dynamic headspace analysis is demonstrated as a method for polymer characterization.     

Development and Evaluation of Sampling and Analytical Techniques for Investigating Air-Water Exchange of Chemicals

Abstract

Gas exchange across the air-water interface is one of the three major transport pathways for atmospheric inputs of organic pollutants in the Great Lakes. It is essential to advance our knowledge of the air-water exchange processes to improve our understanding of the environmental pathways and fate of a variety of persistent and toxic chemicals. Two complementary prototype devices were developed and tested for direct characterization of air-water exchange processes. One was a sparger device which was used to determine the (truly) dissolved concentration of a given chemical in water, and hence its potential for diffusive transfer at the air-water interface. The other was a flux chamber with which the chemical mass transfer rate from the water surface to the atmosphere (or vice versa) was determined. Ambient air and air from the sparger and flux chamber were collected/concentrated on multi-bed adsorbent tubes, followed by thermal desorption GC-MS analysis. Collected water samples were filtered and then concentrated on adsorbent tubes which were subject to similar thermal desorption GC-MS analytical procedures. The combination of these techniques provides a useful means for the estimation of the mass transfer rates of chemicals across the air-water interface.     

The automated determination of volatile organic contaminants in ambient air and/or soil gas by gas chromatography with selective detectors

Two systems have been developed which are suitable for the determination of sub parts per billion levels of organic contaminants in ambient air and soil gas. Gas samples are passed through an adsorbent where the contaminants are trapped. Following thermal desorption the contaminants are quantitated by capillary GC employing photoionizations electrolytic conductivity, and electron capture detection. The performance of the systems is described in detail.     

Direct analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in heavily contaminated soils by thermal desorption/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

A robust analytical method is presented for the direct determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in soil samples by thermal desorption/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The method is simple to perform (thermal desorption and analysis are performed in-line employing a limited amount of sample, 2?mg) and eliminates the need for any solvent and time-consuming extraction. The analytical procedure was optimized using a soil sample spiked with Aroclor 1254 and Aroclor 1260 and validated with a certified industrial soil sample for which the concentration of thirteen PCB congeners are known. Limits of detection were sensitive to matrix effects and varied substantially among analytes. The matrix effect resulted in a reduction of the limits of detection by 1.5–10 times. However, it was found that the matrix effect is not due to ion suppression but to the increase of the noise of selected ion monitoring (SIM) traces, indicating that no limitation exists with using a single surrogate standard. By employing a 13C-labelled PCB internal standard, limits of detection in the range of 0.8 to 10?µg?g^?1 of soil were obtained. The obtained experimental results demonstrated that the proposed analytical method can be conveniently applied for screening a large number of heavily contaminated soil samples thus avoiding the employment of harmful solvents and time-consuming extraction procedures.     

汽车漆皮的气相色谱指纹图谱比对方法及应用研究

采用在线热解吸/毛细管气相色谱联用方法建立了对汽车漆皮指纹图谱进行比对的方法,并将该方法应用于实际样品的鉴定。该方法通过将一定大小和质量的漆皮样品置于热解吸炉中进行加热解吸,自漆皮中解吸出来的挥发性有机物在色谱仪上得到分离检测。通过直观比较两张漆皮图谱的峰形轮廓是否一致进行初步判断,对外形相似的图谱进一步计算二者谱峰的重叠率,并以相对保留时间比值rt2/rt1和相对峰面积比值rA2/rA1来考察待比较图谱的相似度。当谱峰重叠率大于90%,rt2/rt1和rA2/rA1的相似度分别大于99%和70%时,可认定待比较的两个漆皮样品来自同一辆车。该方法操作简便,谱峰识别能力强,实现了对指纹图谱的定量表征描述,使漆皮的仪器分析数据成为法律上可采信的有力物证之一。     

Application of central composite design in the optimisation of thermal desorption parameters for the trace level determination of the chemical warfare agent chloropicrin

A quantitative trace-level thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry method was developed for chloropicrin CCl3NO2 using central composite design. Factors influencing the thermal decomposition were elucidated and optimum conditions for maximum response deduced. Four factors were investigated: desorption time, desorption temperature, valve temperature and line temperature. Only valve and line temperature influenced the response. The storage stability of chloropicrin on Tenax TA was investigated. Only the storage conditions affected recovery: no significant loss of chloropicrin was observed for spiked tubes stored in a refrigerator for up to 30 days. The application of central composite design to study thermal degradation of chloropicrin has not been described in the literature. The benefits in adopting this approach are reflected in the limit of detection, 22 ng on the sorbent tube (equivalent to 3.2 ppbv), the lowest atmospheric detection limit reported to date.     

Determination of optimum conditions for the analysis of volatile components in pine needles by double-shot pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

The optimum conditions for the analysis of the volatile organic components of pine needles from Pinus densiflora using double-shot pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (DSP-GC-MS) were investigated with respect to thermal desorption temperature and duration of heating. A total of 41 compounds were identified using thermal desorption temperatures of 150 degrees C, 200 degrees C, 250 degrees C and 300 degrees C. Thermal decomposition products, which include acetol, acetic acid, furfurals and phenols, were observed only at thermal desorption temperatures exceeding 250 degrees C: they were not observed in the extract from a simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) method. Heating times of 1 s, 6 s, 30 s, 150 s and 300 s were investigated at the thermal desorption temperature of 200 degrees C, whence it was found that thermal decomposition products were produced only at heating times over 30 s. The optimum pyrolyzer conditions for the analysis of pine needles using DSP-GC-MS is 200 degrees C for 6 s. Under these conditions, this method gives comparable results to the SDE method.     

Study on Pressure Swing Adsorption Removing C2^＋ from Natural Gas as Raw Material for Thermal Chlorination

The experimental investigation demonstrates that a setisfactory can be expected for pressure swing adsorption (PSA) purification of natural gas as raw material for thermal chlorination process.Using hh-4 molecular sieve as adsorbent for removing C2^ components,the suitable adsorption pressure is 0.4-0.45 MPa,desorption vacuum is 0.08-0.09 MPa and circulation time is 20-21 min.     

Study on Pressure Swing Adsorption Removing C+2 from Natural Gas as Raw Material for Thermal Chlorination

The experimental investigation demonstrates that a satisfactory result can be expected for pressure swing adsorption (PSA) purification of natural gas as raw material for thermal chlorination process. Using hh-4 molecular sieve as adsorbent for removing C2 components, the suitable adsorption pressure is 0.4-0.45 MPa, desorption vacuum is 0.08-0.09 MPa and circulation time is 20-21 min.