Gas chromatographic determination of glutaraldehyde in the workplace atmosphere after derivatization with 0-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine on a solid-phase microextraction fibre.
Glutaraldehyde is used primarily in hospital environments for the disinfection of various instruments (e.g., endoscopes). We describe in this paper the measurement of glutaraldehyde in a hospital environment using solid-phase microextraction. The method includes, prior to sampling, the adsorption of O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine on to the fibre (with polydimethylsiloxane-divinylbenzene). The fibre is then exposed to air, after which desorption is performed in the GC injection port. This process results in the formation of a stable derivative of the glutaraldehyde that is suitable for chromatographic purposes and detectable with classical detection methods, such as flame ionisation and electron-capture detection. We demonstrate that the procedure of adsorption, thermal desorption and derivatization is robust and reproducible. We were able to detect concentrations of 60 microg/m3 (10 s sampling) or 6 microg/m3 (120 s sampling) by electron-capture detection, and 80 microg/m3 (120 s sampling) by flame ionisation detection. We compared our method to currently existing methods of glutaraldehyde measurement and highlighted several important advantages of the method.
Pieraccini
Giuseppe
G
Centro Interdipartimentale di Spettrometrica di Massa, University of Firenze, Italy. beppe_p@pharm.unifi.it
Bartolucci
Gianluca
G
Pacenti
Marco
M
Dugheri
Stefano
S
Boccalon
Pierpaolo
P
Focardi
Leonardo
L
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000032:analysis*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods*; D005976:Glutaral / Q000032:analysis*; D006898:Hydroxylamines / Q000737:chemistry*; D017132:Workplace; D005466:Fluorocarbons
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D005976:Glutaral; D006898:Hydroxylamines; C010277:Florox Reagent; D005466:Fluorocarbons