Abstract
As an inexpensive, simple, and low-solvent consuming extraction technique, the suitability of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sorbent was investigated as a quantitative method for sampling gaseous organophosphate triesters in air. These compounds have become ubiquitous in indoor air, because of their widespread use as additive flame retardants/plasticizers in various indoor materials. Results obtained by sampling these compounds at controlled air concentrations using SPME and active sampling on glass fibre filters were compared to evaluate the method. A constant linear airflow of 10 cm s−1 over the fibres was applied to increase the extraction rate. For extraction of triethyl phosphate with a 100-μm PDMS fibre, equilibrium was achieved after 8 h. The limit of detection was determined to be less than 10 pg m−3. The PDMS–air partition coefficients, Kfs, for the individual organophosphate triesters were determined to be in the range 5–60×106 at room temperature (22–23°C). Air measurements were performed utilising the determined coefficients for quantification. In samples taken from a lecture room four different airborne organophosphate esters were identified, the most abundant of which was tris(chloropropyl) phosphate, at the comparatively high level of 1.1 μg m−3. The results from SPME and active sampling had comparable repeatability (RSD less than 17%), and the determined concentrations were also similar. The results suggest that the investigated compounds were almost entirely associated with the gaseous phase at the time and place sampled.
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Isetun, S., Nilsson, U. & Colmsjö, A. Evaluation of solid-phase microextraction with PDMS for air sampling of gaseous organophosphate flame-retardants and plasticizers. Anal Bioanal Chem 380, 319–324 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-004-2760-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-004-2760-5