Headspace–trap analysis: Can you remove excess water and volatile interferences without losing volatile target analytes

Analysis of volatile organics by static headspace is a popular technique for many applications. However, chromatographic interferences such as water or solvents, are unavoidably sampled and injected to the analytical system along with similarly volatile analytes of interest. As a result,analyses can suffer from reduced analyte response and poor repeatability, as well as negative impacts on column and detector lifetime, affecting overall system performance.

In this Instant Insight, we describe how to overcome these problems by incorporating a backflushed focusing trap for headspace–trap (HS–trap) analysis on Markes’ Centri^® platforms, combining effective sorbent selection and trap purging. This enables the successful removal of water and unwanted volatile interferences from the analytical system prior to GC injection, without affecting the peak abundance of target analytes of similar volatility.

On Centri, HS–trap is fully-automated for hands-free operation and thanks to analyte refocusing on the trap, allows higher injection volumes (up to 5 mL in a single injection, and multiples thereof), to significantly enhance the sensitivity of every analysis.