Environmental applications of gas chromatography/atomic emission detection

A gas chromatograph/atomic emission detector (GC/AED) system has been evaluated for its applicability to environmental analysis. Detection limits, elemental response factors, and regression analysis data were determined for 58 semivolatile environmental contaminants. Detection limits for injected analytes ranged from 0.17 to 3.0 ng on the hydrogen 486-nm channel, from 1.0 to 5.0 ng on the nitrogen 174-nm channel, from 0.65 to 11.7 ng on the oxygen 777-nm channel, from 0.071 to 3.0 ng on the chlorine 479-nm channel, and from 0.023 to 0.038 ng on the sulfur 181-nm channel. Mean elemental response factors (ERFs) measured on these channels, relative to the carbon 496-nm channel, were hydrogen, 0.084 (mean %RSD = 6.6); nitrogen, 0.246 (mean %RSD = 19); oxygen, 0.459 (mean %RSD = 16); and chlorine, 0.417 (mean %RSD = 3.6). The higher precision obtained for hydrogen and chlorine, relative to that for nitrogen and oxygen, is attributed to the ability to scan these elemental channels in the same GC run as the carbon 496-nm channel (diode array wavelength range limitation of ∼40 nm/run). Mean ERFs of standard compounds were used to determine the molecular formulas of chlorinated hydrocarbons and chlorinated organosulfur compounds in a contaminated environmental soil sample. These formulas are in good agreement with the molecular weights and chlorine isotopic data obtained from low-resolution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.