Direct thermal desorption quantitative analysis

Gorman [971] has described thermal desorption of volatile additives from rubber. The quantitative analysis of 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,2-dihydroquinoline (TMQ) in natural rubber by means of TD-GC-MS has been reported [1018a]. Off-line TD-GC-MS at 180°C of a 75/25 SBR/BR vulcanisate showed t-butylamine, CS2 and benzothiazole, indicative of the vulcanisation accelerator Vulkacit NZ (TBBS) [1019]. Analysis of seals for hydrocarbons and silicon-containing components by means of direct thermal desorption outperforms previous methods based on cyclohexane extraction and headspace techniques [1020]. 

In direct insertion techniques, reproducibility is the main obstacle in developing a reliable analytical technique. One of the many variables to take into account is sample shape. A compact sample with minimal surface area is ideal [64]. Direct mass-spectrometric characterisation in the direct insertion probe is not very quantitative, and, even under optimised conditions, mass discrimination in the analysis of polydisperse polymers and specific oligomer discrimination may occur. For nonvolatile additives that do not evaporate up to 350 °C, direct quantitative analysis by thermal desorption is not possible (e.g. Hostanox 03, MW 794). Good quantitation is also prevented by contamination of the ion source by pyrolysis products of the polymeric matrix. For polymer-based calibration standards, the homogeneity of the samples is of great importance. Hyphenated techniques such as LC-ESI-ToFMS and LC-MALDI-ToFMS have been developed for polymer analyses in which the reliable quantitative features of LC are combined with the identification power and structure analysis of MS. 

As indicated in Section 6.2.2, DI-CIMS suffers from poor reproducibility. For nonvolatile additives that do not evaporate up to 350 °C, direct quantitative analysis by thermal desorption is not possible. The method depends on polymer formulation standards that are reliably mixed. Wilcken and Geissler [264] described rapid quality control of l- xg paint samples by means of temperature-programmable DI-EIMS with PCA evaluation. 

Correlations between surface species and emitted secondary ions are based on characterization of the surface adlayer by adsorption and thermal desorption measurements. It is shown that the secondary ion ratios RuC+/Ru+ and R CTVRuJ can be quantitatively related to the amount of nondesorbable surface carbon formed by the dissociative adsorption of ethylene. In addition, emitted hydrocarbon-containing secondary ions can be directly related to hydrocarbon species on the surface, thus allowing a relatively detailed analysis of the hydrocarbon species present. The latter results are consistent with ejection mechanisms involving intact emission and simple fragmentation of parent hydrocarbon species. 

After transport to a laboratory, gases are introduced into an analytical instrument for quantitative determination of the constituents of interest. Soil air in a container is introduced directly to the instmment, whilst adsorbed gas is released by thermal of chemical desorption. The instrumental methods most widely used for gas analyses include gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. For quantifying the radiation scars on film, image analysis methods are employed. 

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a technique that was first reported by Louch et al. in 1991 (35). This is a sample preparation technique that has been applied to trace analysis methods such as the analysis of flavor components, residual solvents, pesticides, leaching packaging components, or any other volatile organic compounds. It is limited to gas chromatography methods because the sample must be desorbed by thermal means. A fused silica fiber that was previously coated with a liquid polymer film is exposed to an aqueous sample. After adsorption of the analyte onto the coated fiber is allowed to come to equilibrium, the fiber is withdrawn from the sample and placed directly into the heated injection port of a gas chromatograph. The heat causes desorption of the analyte and other components from the fiber and the mixture is quantitatively or qualitatively analyzed by GC. This preparation technique allows for selective and solventless GC injections. Selectivity and time to equilibration can be altered by changing the characteristics of the film coat. 

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