Determination of aliphatic amines in air by membrane enrichment directly coupled to a gas chromatograph

Abstract

A method is described for the determination of shortchain aliphatic amines in ambient air based on impinger sampling in dilute H2SO4, selective enrichment across a PTFE gas membrane and quantification by gas chromatography. The enrichment step is carried out in a flow system directly connected to the chromatograph. The separation is performed on a packed column with nitrogen selective detection. The enrichment per sample volume was in the range 7.3 to 8.2 mL−1 for C1−C6 amines. Detection limits were ca 3–10 nM with enrichment of a 2.9 mL liquid sample. After impinger sampling of 5 m3 air in 10 mL absorption solution, this corresponds, to 0.4–0.8 ng/m3 (ca 0.2–0.5 ppt by volume) in air.