Supplies and Services for Mass Spectrometers, Gas Chromatographs
and Liquid Chromatographs
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23 | Last Update: 01/31/00 |
INTRODUCTION
The identification and quantification of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) which are responsible for the fragrance qualities in colognes are of significant importance to the perfume industry. Compounds, as the musks and pheromones are used by perfume manufacturers to enhance sexual attractiveness from one sex to another. Analytical techniques are needed to identify and quantitate VOC's present in colognes so that these techniques can be incorporated into troubleshooting problems that may arise as well as be used in a quality control program to ensure product purity. Previous methods for the extraction and analysis of these compounds used techniques as solvent extraction, headspace analysis and microdistillation followed by capillary gas chromatography. These methods either require large sample sizes, require the use of solvents or require considerable time and effort to achieve the analysis. In this study, a new technique entitled Direct Thermal Extraction using a thermal desorption apparatus attached to the injection port of a GC/MS system permits the direct thermal extraction of volatile and semi-volatile organics directly from small samples sizes without the need for solvent extraction or other sample preparation. The samples are ballistically heated and together with the carrier gas flow through the samples the volatiles are outgassed into the injection port and onto the front of the GC column for subsequent analysis via the GC and /or GC/MS. The volatile organics present in the colognes were quantified using matrix spiked deuterated internal standards. This technique can be easily incorporated into a troubleshooting technique to detect problems in various commercial colognes, to compare competing manufacturers products, as well as implementation into a quality control program.
