Determination of 1, 3-butadiene degradation products in air samples by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. (January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vallecillos, Laura; Sanmartin, Joel; Marcé, Rosa Maria; Borrull, Francesc
• Is Part Of: Atmospheric environment. Volume 196(2019)
• Page Start: 95
• Page End: 102
• Publication Date: 2019-01
• Subjects: Air samples -- 1, 3-Butadiene degradation products -- Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry -- Thermal desorption; Air -- Pollution -- Periodicals; Air -- Pollution -- Meteorological aspects -- Periodicals; 551.51
• DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.10.010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1352-2310

Abstract

Abstract: This study describes the development of a thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for determining the main degradation products of 1, 3-butadiene, especially 1, 3-butadiene monoxide and 1, 3-butadiene diepoxide, in air samples. The method involves the sampling of 6 L of air in a Carbopack X sorbent tube followed by thermal desorption coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Method validation showed good linearity for all the target compounds, low detection limits (ranging between 0.004 ng m −3 and 0.001 ng m −3 ) and acceptable intra-day (2–10%, n = 5, 2.5 ng) and inter-day (6–17%, n = 5, 2.5 ng) repeatability values. The developed method has been applied for the determination of 1, 3-butadiene degradation products at four different sites in a 1, 3-butadiene production plant and at three locations in the vicinity of the same production plant. The target compounds were found in both kinds of samples analysed standing out from the rest ones the concentrations found in the 1, 3-butadiene production plant (site 1) with a maximum concentration for 1, 3-butadiene of 86.7 μg m −3, 0.34 μg m −3 for 1, 3-butadiene monoxide and 1.04 μg m −3 for 1, 3-butadiene diepoxide. Moreover, the results obtained demonstrate that thermal desorption is a suitable method for the determination of 1, 3-butadiene degradation products in air samples. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: For the first time a TD-GC-MS method was developed to determine 1, 3-BDPs at trace levels. CX tubes showed the best results for the sampling of 1, 3-BDPs in urban and industrial atmospheres. Acetaldehyde, acrolein and propanal were shown to be the most relevant 1, 3-BDPs. More specific 1, 3-BDPs such as 1, 3-butadiene epoxides were found at lower concentrations.