Partial List of Potential Problems That Can Occur in the Headspace-GC/MS Analysis (Static Headspace Sampling) on the Neat Materials (VOC Analysis) That Could Lead to Omission of Compounds, with a Suggestion on How to Potentially Avoid These Omissions
| Headspace-GC/MS on Neat Materials | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of Problem | Description of Problem | Potential Omissions | How to Avoid Omissions |
| Sample Preparation –Sample Introduction | Desorption temperature used is too low | Lower volatile organic compounds could be impacted. | Increase the desorption temperature sufficiently to establish a full profile of volatiles without thermally degrading the test article |
| Chromatography | Certain substances with specific functional groups will exhibit sub-optimal chromatography or will not elute. | Low molecular weight (MW) acids, amines, thiols, etc. … | Low MW Acids: Aqueous extracts via Ion Chromatography Amines & thiols: verify these compounds in LC/MS ESI, if appropriate |
| Mass Spectrometry | Compounds with low MW fall outside of the scanned mass range | Formaldehyde, Methanol, etc. … | Methanol: consider GC/FID as alternative technique Formaldehyde: consider either GC/FID or specific method (e.g. LC/UV after derivatization) |