A sol-gel based solid phase microextraction fiber for analysis of aromatic hydrocarbons

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Environmental Science
• Materials Science

Background:

• Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) are common volatile organic compounds.
• Accurate monitoring of BTEX in environmental samples is crucial for health and safety.
• Existing methods for BTEX analysis can be time-consuming or lack sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel sol-gel based solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber for headspace sampling.
• To optimize microextraction and desorption conditions for BTEX determination.
• To assess the performance of the developed HP-SPME-GC method for analyzing BTEX in gaseous and soil samples.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a sol-gel based SPME fiber.
• Optimization of fiber composition and microextraction parameters (temperature, time).
• Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) for BTEX quantification.
• Headspace sampling from indoor air and soil samples.

Main Results:

• The sol-gel fiber exhibited thermal stability up to 250°C.
• Optimized conditions provided sensitive and fast BTEX sampling from gaseous phases.
• Linear ranges varied from 4-80 ng mL⁻¹ (gaseous) and 100-1000 ng mL⁻¹ (soil) with low limits of detection.
• High reproducibility was achieved with relative standard deviations between 5.0% and 7.9%.

Conclusions:

• The developed sol-gel based HP-SPME fiber is a sensitive, reproducible, and efficient tool for BTEX analysis.
• The method is successfully applicable for BTEX determination in real-world samples like indoor air and soil headspace.
• This approach offers a promising alternative for environmental monitoring of BTEX compounds.