[Determination of three ester compounds in gasoline by two-dimensional gas chromatography]

A simple and efficient method based on the technique of packed column switching-back flushing was established for the analysis of the ester compounds (including ethyl acetate, sec-butyl acetate, dimethyl carbonate) in gasoline. With the use of a non-polar pre-column, we successfully separated the components in gasoline by back flushing out components heavier than n-octane, while the lighter components and the ester compounds were flushed into a polar analytical column. In this method, external standard method was applied for quantification. As a result, good linear relationships existed among the three ester compounds in the range of 50 mg/L to 50 000 mg/L. The linear correlation coefficients (r2) for ethyl acetate, sec-butyl acetate and dimethyl carbonate were 0.999 99, 1.000 00 and 0.999 95, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of standard samples in six continuous tests were within 1.0%. The recoveries were between 98.7% and 107.9%. The detection limit of the method (S/N = 3) was 5 mg/L. No pretreatment was needed. This method is simple, accurate, quick as well as efficient, and can be used as an ideal method for the analysis of the ester compounds in gasoline.