Determination of 2-methylisoborneol and geosmin in aqueous samples by static headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with ramped inlet pressure

✍ Scribed by Sadao Nakamura; Norihiro Sakui; Akira Tsuji; Shigeki Daishima

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 798 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1615-9306
• DOI: 10.1002/jssc.200401944

✦ Synopsis

A method for determining the earthy and musty odors 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) and geosmin in drinking water using static headspace-GC-MS is described. To achieve lower detection limits, split ratio was optimized with ramped inlet pressure for large headspace sampling volume. The ramped inlet pressure, which held higher pressure (higher column flow rate) only during injection, allowed us to inject 3-mL volume to GC with very low split ratio (2:1). Although sequential analysis with a stainless steel ion source often changed the mass spectrum of 2-MIB, this spectral change was eliminated by using an inert ion source with a 6 mm drawout plate. The detection limits of this method were 0.36 and 0.14 ng/L, respectively, for 2-MIB and geosmin. The repeatabilities (n = 30) were 6.6 and 4.8%, respectively, at 1 ng/L for 2-MIB and geosmin.