Capillary thermal desorption unit for near real-time analysis of VOCs at sub-trace levels. Application to the analysis of environmental air contamination and breath samples
dc.contributor.author
dc.date.accessioned
2013-05-29T10:25:01Z
dc.date.available
2013-05-29T10:25:01Z
dc.date.issued
2009-05-15
dc.identifier.issn
1570-0232
dc.identifier.uri
dc.description.abstract
A capillary microtrap thermal desorption module is developed for near real-time analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at sub-ppbv levels in air samples. The device allows the direct injection of the thermally desorbed VOCs into a chromatographic column. It does not use a second cryotrap to focalize the adsorbed compounds before entering the separation column so reducing the formation of artifacts. The connection of the microtrap to a GC–MS allows the quantitative determination of VOCs in less than 40 min with detection limits of between 5 and 10 pptv (25 °C and 760 mmHg), which correspond to 19–43 ng m−3, using sampling volumes of 775 cm3. The microtrap is applied to the analysis of environmental air contamination in different laboratories of our faculty. The results obtained indicate that most volatile compounds are easily diffused through the air and that they also may contaminate the surrounding areas when the habitual safety precautions (e.g., working under fume hoods) are used during the manipulation of solvents. The application of the microtrap to the analysis of VOCs in breath samples suggest that 2,5-dimethylfuran may be a strong indicator of a person's smoking status
dc.description.sponsorship
M. Alonso acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Education for the financial support of her collaboration research (Becas colaboración curso 2007-2008, orden ECI/2007/2007). This study has been financed by the University of Girona, project # 003798 (ajuts R+D en el marc de l’IdIBGi 2006)
dc.format.mimetype
application/pdf
dc.language.iso
eng
dc.publisher
Elsevier
dc.relation.isformatof
Versió postprint del document publicat a: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jchromb.2009.03.022
dc.relation.ispartof
© Journal of Chromatography B, vol. 877, núm. 14-15, p. 1472–1478
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Articles publicats (D-Q)
dc.rights
Tots els drets reservats
dc.subject
dc.title
Capillary thermal desorption unit for near real-time analysis of VOCs at sub-trace levels. Application to the analysis of environmental air contamination and breath samples
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.rights.accessRights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.embargo.terms
Cap
dc.type.version
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.doi
dc.identifier.idgrec
012058
dc.type.peerreviewed
peer-reviewed