Headspace concentration stage

Because SPME extracts compounds selectively, the response to each compound must be calibrated for quantification. A specific compound can be quantified by using three GC peak area values from solvent injection, static headspace (gas-tight syringe), and SPME. The solvent injection is used to quantify the GC peak area response of a compound. This is used to quantify the amount of the compound in the headspace. The SPME response is then compared to the quantified static headspace extraction. These three stages are necessary because a known gas-phase concentration of most aroma compounds at low levels is not readily produced. A headspace of unknown concentration is thus produced and quantified with the solvent injection. Calibration must be conducted independently for each fiber and must include each compound to be quantified. 

NO is a gas at room temperature, with a low solubility in water (10" M). From aqueous solution it is rapidly lost to the headspace. In oxygenated water it is oxidized slowly, at a rate which it is critically concentration-dependent, to nitrite (equations 1-3), At this stage no nitrate is formed. However, in oxygenated water and particularly in certain biological media such as blood, nitrite is rapidly oxidized to nitrate. ... 

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a static head-space method similar to the carbon strip method however, it does not require a solvent desorption stage. Volatiles are extracted from the headspace by absorption into an absorbent polymer such as poly-dimethylsiloxane (ASTM method E2154). The absorbent polymer is coated onto a quartz fiber that is housed within a needle similar to a syringe needle. The coated fiber is exposed beyond the tip of the needle in the headspace above the fire debris. As with the carbon strip method, the fiber debris sample can be heated to increase the concentration of volatiles in the headspace. Volatiles are absorbed within the polymer with exposure times for routine screening being within the range 5-15 min. The fiber is retracted within the needle and can then be directly inserted into the injector of a gas chromatograph where the volatiles are thermally desorbed from the polymer onto the column. SPME fibers can be reused but appropriate blanks need to be run to ensure that the fiber is clean. 

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