ADJUSTED ACTIVE CARBON FIBERS FOR SOLID PHASE MICROEXTRACTION

ABSTRACT

Adjusted active carbon fiber (AACF) was evaluated for Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME), which showed higher sensitivity and stability than traditional coating fibers. The characteristics of AACF result from two different activation methods (chemical and water vapor) and from variable activation conditions (temperature and time). The fiber treated by water vapor appears to have stronger affinity to polar compounds, while that treated by chemical activation appears to have stronger affinity to non-polar compounds. For different target compounds ranged from non-polar to polar, AACF design could be effective with specific selections and sensitivities. As applications in this paper, benzoic acid in soy sauce was extracted onto water-vapor-activated-fiber, then analyzed using gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The chemical-activated-fiber SPME was applied in the analysis of benzene series compounds (BTEX) in water matrix. Compared with standard carbon disulfide extraction method, chemical-activated-fiber SPME is more convenient due to its simple process and turns to be of relative low detection limits.

Keywords:

• Adjusted active carbon fiber (AACF)
• Solid-phase microextraction (SPME)
• GC-MS; Benzoic acid
• BTEX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Lengxiang Xie and Jialiang Huang in our group for their technical assistance and the Chemistry Laboratory in Shanghai Jiaotong University for their support in instrumentation.