Qualitative analysis of complex mixtures of VOCs using the inside needle capillary adsorption trap

Abstract

An alternative sampling technique for fingerprint analysis of complex mixtures of petroleum-based products is presented. Fingerprint chromatograms of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for class 0-5 accelerants can be readily obtained using the recently developed inside needle capillary adsorption trap(INCAT) device. The concentration of VOCs from the static headspace of these complex mixtures, onto the adsorbing carbon coating of the INCAT device, avoids some problems associated with conventional headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC). The INCAT sampling method is a solventless extraction technique in which the analytes adsorbed inside the device are thermally desorbed inside the heated injection port of a gas chromatograph (GC), or a gas chromatograph coupled with a mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The presented method of active sampling with the INCAT device was used to obtain fingerprint chromatograms of the headspace of various gasolines, paint thinners, and lighter fluids. The static headspace chromatograms, from active sampling with the INCAT device, were compared with direct liquid injection of the samples. The INCAT chromatograms showed preferential adsorption of aromatic compounds over lighter, more volatile, but less polar compounds. Each class of the accelerant can be positively identified from the fingerprint chromatogram using only a few characteristic peaks. In addition, the ability to detect these volatile components of gasoline in aqueous samples at environmentally significant levels was also investigated.