Extraction, thermal cleanup, and GC/MS quantification with disposable solid extractants: Application to hydrophobic analytes in aqueous surfactant solutions

Abstract

Fragranced consumer products are generally formulated together with surfactants. In application, these products are often highly diluted with water. Analyzing trace amounts of fragrance ingredients in such mixtures is challenging and usually requires either time-consuming sample cleanup or extensive cleaning of the trapping device to avoid memory effect and cross-contamination between samples. To overcome these limitations, a new disposable extraction device has been developed to be used in combination with a thermodesorption-GC-MS unit. Made of PDMS foam cylinders, it efficiently extracts trace amounts of hydrophobic compounds from complex aqueous solutions and provides an online sample cleanup, thanks to the controlled desorption temperature, which allows retaining the low volatile constituents of the matrix within the absorptive foam. Combined with a stable isotope dilution assay, accurate quantifications of Cetalox(®), Muscenone™, Helvetolide(®), Polysantol(®), Dartanol, and Myrrhone(®) from aqueous solution containing surfactant and from water from the aeration tank of a sewage plant were successfully conducted. LOQ varied between 1 and 25 ppb (20% confidence interval, α = 0.1).

Micellisation and thermodynamic properties of sodium dodecyl sulphate in water-1,2-alkanediol co-solvents: chain length effect

“…[1][2][3] Surfactant aggregation phenomenon has been studied in various media such as pure aqueous medium, non-polar and polar solvents, electrolytes and solvents mixtures. [4][5][6][7] The studies in various solvent mixtures are relevant for the improvement of surfactant micellisation properties to enhance their performances since properties of the solutions can be optimised for various industrial formulations and commercial applications.…”

50 Years of Mass Spectrometry at Firmenich: A Continuing Love Story

“…GC-MS and LC-MS are unique tools to provide robust data for understanding the fate of perfumery chemicals in the environment. For instance, Begnaud et al [18] have developed a method based on thermodesorption with stable isotope dilution to accurately quantify musks and other typical perfumery ingredients in waters from the aeration tank of sewage plants. The method was fully validated with a limit of detection of 1 to 25 ppb, depending on the compound.…”

Online clean‐up of volatile compounds in complex matrices for GC‐MS quantification: testing with fragranced consumer products

“…The recovery issue can be well overcome by the addition of known amounts of isotopomers of each analyte in the matrix, so that their recoveries are identical to those of the analytes and can be used as internal standards (ISTDs) . For hydrophobic compounds in aqueous surfactant solutions, we recently developed a technique based on extraction with a disposable solid sorbent, using isotopically labelled standards . This technique is suitable for the quantification of a few analytes when these labelled compounds are available or can be easily synthesized, but labelling increases the analysis cost for multi‐analyte determinations.…”