Gas Chromatographic/Fourier Transform Infrared Analysis of Trace Organics: Feasibility of Analysis after Collection of Organics on TENAX-GC Sorbent Cartridges

摘要

The combination of sorbent cartridge thermal desorption with capillary column GC/on-the-fly FTIR has been shown effective for the detection and identification of volatile organics in laboratory-generated mixtures, including the distinction between isomeric species, at the level of a few hundred nanograms per compound per cartridge. Traces of water desorbed from the cartridges must be reduced by the insertion of a dryer unit between the desorption chamber and the GC column. Methods of lowering the detection and identification limits to less than 100 micrograms per compound per cartridge are proposed.