Determination of Indoor Airborne Synthetic Musks by Dynamic Air Sampling with Solid-Phase Microextraction under Nonequilibrium Situation

Abstract

Synthetic musks have a widespread use and can be found in many personal-care products such as detergents, body wash, shampoo, perfume and cosmetics. Synthetic musks belong to emerging chemicals that are persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic, while their appearances in different environmental matrix can be discovered easily, including indoor air. Nevertheless, methods used to sample synthetic musks require a long sampling time or extensive work in the sample preparation process. Therefore, a method which is rapid, cost-effective and sensitive enough for the determination would be of great benefits. The aim of this research was then to develop a dynamic sampling method with aforementioned advantages based on solid phase microextraciton (SPME). Synthetic musks can be divided into two major classes, including nitro musks and polycyclic musk. Among them, Galaxolide (HHCB) and Tonalide(AHTN) was selected in this study since it was most commonly seen in the environment. The mixtures of HHCB were hence prepared and injected into the designed dynamic sampling system by a syringe pump. HHCB was sampled in the exposure chamber with different fibers under a fixed air velocity for different combinations of sampling time and concentrations. After exposures, the SPME fibers were inserted into the injection port of GC/MS/MS for thermal desorption and further analysis. The SPME procedure coupled with GC/MS analysis for the determinations of airborne synthetic musks was established in this study. It was observed that PDMS/DVB SPME fiber provided the best extraction efficiency with highest sample stability. The desorption efficiency was found to be 100% when the time for thermal desorption were 10 minutes which means no carry-over effect was observed. The theoretical sampling rate was estimated to be 0.20 cm3 sce-1. The linear range of the detection for HHCB was 1 ng mL-1 to 5 μg mL-1, and the method detection limit (MDL) was 0.10 ng mL-1. The experimental sampling constant and the effects of different environmental factors on the samplers were also validated. The designed method demonstrated the potential of using SPME fiber for synthetic musks determination, while advantages over conventional methods, such as solve-free and time-saving, were reached. It provided a simple and sensitive method to monitor the quality of indoor air in the future.