Microwave-assisted purge-and-trap extraction device coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry for the determination of five predominant odors in sediment, fish tissues, and algal cells.

Xuwei Deng, Ping Xie, Min Qi, Gaodao Liang, Jun Chen, Zhimei Ma, Yan Jiang

Index: J. Chromatogr. A. 1219 , 75-82, (2012)

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Abstract

Off-flavors are among the most troublesome compounds in the environment worldwide. The lack of a viable theory for studying the sources, distribution, and effect of odors has necessitated the accurate measurement of odors from environmental compartments. A rapid and flexible microwave-assisted purge-and-trap extraction device for simultaneously determining five predominant odors, namely, dimethyltrisulfide, 2-methylisoborneol, geosmin, β-cyclocitral and β-ionone, from the primary sources and sinks is demonstrated. This instrument facilitates the extraction and concentration of odors from quite different matrices simultaneously. This device is a solvent-free automated system that does not require cleaning and is timesaving. The calibration curves of the five odor compounds showed good linearity in the range of 1-500 ng/L, with correlation coefficients above 0.999 (levels=7) and with residuals ranging from approximately 77% to 104%. The limits of detection (S/N=3) were below 0.15 ng/L in algae sample and 0.07 ng/g in sediment and fish tissue samples. The relative standard deviations were between 2.65% and 7.29% (n=6). Thus the proposed design is ready for rapid translation into a standard analytical tool and is useful for multiple applications in the analysis of off-flavors.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.