Determination of VOC in aqueous samples by the combination of headspace (HS) and solid-phase microextraction (SPME)

The application of solid phase microextraction (SPME) is generally conducted by directly immersing the fiber into the liquid sample or by exposing the fiber in the head space (HS). The extraction temperature, the time of incubation, and application of stirring are often designated to be the most important parameters for achieving the best extraction efficiencies of HS-SPME analysis. In this study, relative importance of these three analytical parameters involved in the HS-SPME method is evaluated using a polydimethylsiloxane/carboxen (PDMS/CAR) fiber. To optimize its operation conditions the competing relationships between different parameters were investigated by comparing the extraction efficiency based on the combination of three parameters and two contracting conditions: (1) heating the sample at 30 vs. 50 C, (2) exposing samples at two durations of 10 vs. 30 min, and (3) application of stirring vs. no stirring. According to our analysis among 8 combination types of HS-SPME method, an extraction condition termed as S50-30 condition ((1) 1200 rpm stirring, (2) exposure temp, and (3) 30 min exposure duration) showed maximum recovery rate of 45.5~68.5% relative to an arbitrary reference of direct GC injection. According to this study, the employment of stirring is the most crucial factor to improve extraction efficiency in the application of HS-SPME.