Volatile Organic Compounds
Introduction
Sensitive and selective detection of chemical species, including chemical warfare (CW) agents, explosives, pesticides, and other toxic industrial compounds and materials (TICs/TIMs) has become a necessity in many applications. Although mass spectrometry has long been considered the gold-standard in laboratory analysis, its field potential remains largely underdeveloped. Field-deployable sensors conserve valuable time, resources, and chemical information by performing analyses directly on-site, rather than retrieving samples to be studied at a later time in the laboratory. Griffin’s family of compact, mobile, tandem mass spectrometers based on the Cylindrical Ion Trap (CIT) mass analyzer1,2 fulfill this need (see Figure 1).
This application note demonstrates the detection of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in water using the Griffin 450™ Mobile GC/MS/MS system (the Griffin 400™ may also be used for this analysis). A manual headspace sampler was used for sample preparation. The manual headspace sampler (Figure 1) is a compact, easy to operate, convenient accessory for water sample analysis using field-ready Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometery (GC/MS).
Figure 1. The Griffin 450 Mobile GC/MS/MS with Headspace Sampler
Instrumentation
- Griffin 450 with Griffin System Software 3.5
Results /Discussion
Figure 2 shows the chromatograph for the headspace sample of 100 ppb VOC’s in water. All 52 components in the VOC mixture were detected in less than 18 min. Table 1 lists the 52 components in the order of elution time.
Figure 2. Spectrum and Chromatograph of 100 ppb VOC’s in water.
Table 1 |
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# |
Component |
Ret. Time |
1 |
1,1 dicholoroethylene |
1.54 |
2 |
methylene chloride |
1.59 |
3 |
trans-1, 2-dicholoroethylene |
1.71 |
4 |
1,1-dichlororethane |
1.79 |
5 |
cis-1, 2-dichloroethylene(Z) |
1.96 |
6 |
2, 2-dichloropropane |
1.99 |
7 |
bromochloromethane |
2.01 |
8 |
chloroform |
2.02 |
9 |
1, 1, 1-tricholoroethane |
2.24 |
10 |
1, 2-dichloroethane |
2.28 |
11 |
1,1-dichloropropene |
2.33 |
12 |
benzene |
2.39 |
13 |
carbon tetrachloride |
2.42 |
14 |
1, 2 –dichloropropane |
2.78 |
15 |
trichloroethylene |
2.80 |
16 |
dibromomethane |
2.84 |
17 |
bromodichloromethane |
2.90 |
18 |
toluene |
3.88 |
19 |
1, 1, 2-trichloroethane |
3.97 |
20 |
1, 3-dichloropropane |
4.24 |
21 |
dibromochloromethane |
4.45 |
22 |
1, 2-dibromoethane |
4.68 |
23 |
tetrachloroethylene |
4.75 |
24 |
chlorobenzene |
5.64 |
25 |
1, 1, 1, 2-tretrachloroethane |
5.74 |
26 |
ethylbenzene |
6.04 |
27 |
o-Xylene |
6.24 |
28 |
m-Xylene |
6.24 |
29 |
bromoform |
6.67 |
30 |
styrene |
6.84 |
31 |
p-Xylene |
6.90 |
32 |
1, 1, 2, 2-tetrachloroethane |
7.50 |
33 |
1, 2, 3-trichloropropane |
7.71 |
34 |
isopropylbenzene |
7.82 |
35 |
bromobenzene |
7.99 |
36 |
2-chlorotoluene |
8.61 |
37 |
propylbenzene |
8.70 |
38 |
4-chlorotoluene |
8.79 |
39 |
1, 3, 5-trimethylbenzene |
9.16 |
40 |
Tert-butylbenzene |
9.91 |
41 |
1, 2, 4-trimethylbenzene |
9.93 |
42 |
1, 3-dichlorobenzene |
10.31 |
43 |
sec-butylbenzene |
10.48 |
44 |
1, 4-dichlorobenzene |
10.54 |
45 |
p-isopropyltoluene |
10.93 |
46 |
1, 2-dichlorobenzene |
11.24 |
47 |
butylbenzene |
11.93 |
48 |
1, 2-dibromo-3-chloropropane |
12.82 |
49 |
1, 2, 4-trichlorobenzene |
15.76 |
50 |
napthalene |
15.95 |
51 |
1, 2, 3-trichlorobenzene |
16.85 |
52 |
hexachlorobutadiene |
16.98 |
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These data represent typical results.
Conclusions
The Griffin 450 system identified all 52 compounds in the 8260 VOC mix in water. When utilized in tandem, the compact, easy to operate manual Headspace sampler and Griffin 450 provide a convenient field-ready solution for field analysis of water and soil samples. The Griffin 450 solution is ideal for a wide range of applications including water treatment analysis, environmental monitoring, and site-contamination clean-up efforts.
References
1. Wells, J.M.; Badman, E.R.; Cooks, R.G. Anal. Chem. 1998, 70, 438-444.
2. Patterson, G.E.; Guymon, A.J.; Riter, L.S.; Everly, M.; Griep-Raming, J.; Laughlin, B.C.; Ouyang, Z.; Cooks, R.G. Anal. Chem. 2002, 74, 6145-6153.