Evaluation of an in-injection port thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method for analysis of non-polar organic compounds in ambient aerosol samples

Thermal desorption coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) is an alternative to solvent extraction (SE)-based GC/MS (SE-GC/MS) for the analysis of non-polar organic compounds in filter or impactor-collected aerosols. TD-GC/MS has no sample pretreatment and requires a small filter aliquot for detecting individual Organic compounds. The performance ofan in-injection port TD-GC/MS is evaluated for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), n-alkanes, iso-/anteiso-alkanes, hopanes, steranes, branched alkanes, cyclohexanes, alkenes, and phthalates in standards and ambient air samples. Replicate analysis for 132 organic compounds showed relative standard deviations < 10\%, with the majority < 5\%. Accuracy for 15 PAHs, determined with NIST standard reference material (SRM) 1649a urban dust, was within 5\% of the certified values. TD-GC/MS and SE-GC/MS method comparisons for 14 Hong Kong ambient samples agreed within 11\% for 106 non-polar compounds. For 19 Tong Liang, China samples, agreement was within 13\% for 23 PAHs. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.