Nitro musks in cosmetic products—determination by headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography with atomic-emission detection

Summary The combination of headspace solid-phase microextraction with atomic-emission detection enables highly selective and sensitive determination of itro musk compounds in cosmetic products. Sample preparation is considerably simplified; there is no solvent extraction step. Enrichment is influenced by the type and amount of cosmetic product investigated. The lowest amount giving well detectable peaks is 1 mg musk compound per kg sample. Calibration curves obtained from spiked solutions of selected reference cosmetics in water show very good linearity. Relative standard deviations of peak areas from repeated measurements are usually <10%. Presented at the 21^st ISC held in Stuttgart, Germany, 15^th–20^th September, 1996     

Gas chromatographic trace analysis of underivatized nitrophenols

Summary A method for the gas chromatographic trace analysis of underivatized nitrophenols in ground-water is presented. Using a highly de-activated separation system a satisfactory precision for their quantitative GC analysis could be achieved by avoiding condensation of the solvent and by fast injection of the sample. The reproducibility of the peak areas of eleven nitrophenols in ethylacetate was <5 % RSD. Using a nitrogen-phosphorus detector detection limits were in a range from 10 to 30 pg. Within the concentration range from 0.1 to 10 ng μl⁻¹ the calibrations were linear with correlation coefficients >0.992. The approach described was applied to the analysis of nitrophenols in ground-water near a former ammunition plant, after preconcentration by continuous liquid/liquid extraction with ethylacetate. Using a GC-MS technique and retention times various nitrophenols were identified and then quantified in the μg/L-range by applying NPD.     

Investigation of gas chromatographic interaction mechanism on permethylated cyclodextrins by molecular modelling

Summary The capillary gas chromatographic retention behavior of -pinene and tricyclene has been investigated on stationary phases of different polarities. On all but one of the columns employed, tricyclene eluted before -pinene; only permethylated -cyclodextrins dissolved in moderately polar polisiloxanes gave a reversed elution order. The intermolecular interactions which caused the unexpected retention behavior were investigated in detail, applying methods of computer simulation. To achieve this, we have developed a calculation algorithm on the basis of molecular mechanical optimizations and programmed it in a macro. This makes it possible to systematically investigate a given configuration space in which all the possible interactions can take place. It was shown that permethylated -cyclodextrin as host molecule for both guest molecules offers an optimum cavity size. As a result the number of energetically favorable contacts between host and guest molecules as well as the strength of the interactions in this stationary phase were larger. As a consequence the elution order, normally only influenced by the vapor pressure of the compounds at a given temperature, was changed. Nonspecific interactions played an especially important role for these kinds of substances.     

Adsorbent materials commonly used in air analysis for adsorptive enrichment and thermal desorption of volatile organic compounds

A review is given dealing with commonly used adsorbent materials in ambient air analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The adsorbents covered in the paper are selected in consideration of their compatibility with thermal desorption. Initially, we discuss the requirements that an adsorbent should fulfill, and useful parameters for the selection and evaluation of an appropriate material. Then, the most important materials are presented considering their properties, advantages, and drawbacks. A few applications are given, but a complete review of sampling techniques and applications dealing with adsorptive enrichment and thermal desorption is beyond the scope of this paper.     

One-step cleanup for PAH residue analysis in plant matrices using size-exclusion chromatography

A new one-step cleanup procedure, based on size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), usable for the extracts from accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), Soxhlet extraction, or ultrasonic extraction (USE), is described. The method is suitable for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), especially from very complicated plant matrices (e.g. pine needles, deciduous leaves, mosses). The main improvement compared with previous conventional procedures is that analyte peaks barely overlap with matrix peaks in the chromatograms and that it is a very rapid and simple one-step procedure with clearly improved analytical performance. Essential advantages of this SEC procedure are the sharper GC-MS chromatograms for the PAH fraction at retention times between 9.2 and 12.0 min, distinctly separated substance peaks resulting in better analysis, shorter running times, and lower solvent consumption.     

Influence of adsorption effects on retention indices of selected C10-hydroxy compounds at various temperatures

Summary Retention indices of 6 selected hydroxy compounds (aliphatic and bicyclic alcohols, phenols) were determined on 2 HP-5 fused-silica, capillary columns with different film thicknesses (0.11 m and 0.33 m) at 8 different oven temperatures between 80 and 150°C. For some substances the I-T plot was found to show a minimum which cannot be explained by the common retention-index temperature-dependence in gas-liquid chromatography. This result is discussed in terms of adsorption at the liquid-solid interface of the capillary column.     

Characterization of OV-1/FFAP-mixture coated glass capillary columns used for the separation of free fatty acids

As an alternative to acid pretreated UCON and FFAP capillaries for the analysis of wide-boiling free fatty acid mixtures, OV-1 : FFAP phase mixtures were used on high-temperature silylated inert glass capillary columns. The HETP-carrier gas velocity curves, peak asymmetry factors, coating efficiency, gas phase and stationary phase contributions to the mass transfer resistance were determined for various OV-1 : FFAP ratios. Mixed-phase capillaries showed optimum performance at a 2 : 1 OV-1 : FFAP ratio. The thermal and long-term stability of OV-1-stabilized FFAP columns surpassed those of the UCON and pure FFAP reference column used.     

Determination of Aroma Compounds from Alcoholic Beverages in Spiked Blood Samples by Means of Dynamic Headspace GC–MS

Some aroma compounds found in alcoholic beverages are characteristic of a certain beverage (i.e. 2,4-decadienoic acid ethyl ester is characteristic of pear spirit and 5-butyltetrahydro-4-methylfuran-2-on “whiskey lactone” is characteristic of aged spirits like whiskey). These substances were detectable in beverages but not in blood samples. The aim of this investigation was to find a sensitive sampling technique for aroma compounds in whole blood samples. This technique may be used in forensic toxicology for examination of drinking claims. The method comprises dynamic headspace sampling using a purge and trap concentrator, followed by quantitative gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (dynamic HS–GC–MS). The influence of sample preparation, trap adsorbents and sample temperature as well as desorption time and purge time on the quality of the analytical results were investigated. The following optimal parameters were determined: stirred and diluted whole blood sample without salt addition, use of Carbotrap C as trap material, sample temperature at 80 °C, desorption time 20 min and purge time 30 min. These optimal parameters were used for the determination of detection limits (LOD). The LOD of aroma compounds by means of dynamic headspace sampling were compared with the results of conventional sampling: the static headspace technique. Limits of detection for the aroma compounds with conventional static headspace GC are in the range 400–10,000 μg L^?1. Dynamic headspace–GC was found to be a more sensitive sampling technique for most of the aroma compounds investigated (e.g. C₄–C₈ ethyl esters, benzoic acid ethyl ester, linalool oxide and 4-ethylguaiacol) with detection limits between 1 and 50 μg L^?1, but there were also limits to the sampling of substances with lower volatility like decanoic acid ethyl ester, 2,4-decadienoic acid ethyl ester, eugenol and whiskey lactone with detection limits of about 1,000 μg L^?1.     

Determination of hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine, 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, and 1,2-dimethylhydrazine by nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection

The present study is concerned with the application of nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) with electrochemical detection (ED) to the separation and quantitative determination of hydrazine (Hy) and its methyl derivatives. The best performance of NACE-ED was found when using 4 mM sodium acetate/10 mM acetic acid/methanol: acetonitrile = 1:2 as the running buffer, with a bare platinum working electrode set at +1.0 V in an end-column amperometric detection cell. The choice and ratio of suitable solvents for the separation and injection media played an essential role for the performance characteristics of the method. The limits of detection for Hy, methylhydrazine, symmetrical dimethylhydrazine, and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine were 5, 2, 12, and 1 ng/mL, respectively. This is between one and two orders of magnitude lower than that achieved by previously reported CE-ED methods in aqueous buffer systems in conjunction with various types of chemically modified electrodes. The practical utility of the new NACE-ED methodology is demonstrated in terms of the determination of traces of Hys in spiked environmental samples containing a wide range of explosives and related compounds.