1,4-Dioxane is a chemical contaminant formed in trace amounts as a byproduct during the manufacturing process of detergents, foaming agents, emulsifiers and some solvents, which are widely used ingredients of commercial products such as soaps, detergents, shampoos, cosmetics, and cleaning agents. This has led to detectable levels of 1,4-dioxane in the final products resulting in consumer exposure. 1,4-Dioxane has been identified as a potential human carcinogen. A 2016 report by the Department of Health and Human Services lists 1,4-dioxane as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.

Gas Chromatography-Olfactometry (GC-O) is an essential technique in aroma analysis. Olfactory detection is often performed in parallel with GC detection, for example, using a mass spectrometer. To ensure that an Olfactory Detection Port (ODP) is installed properly and is in good working condition, a performance checkout procedure is required. An ODP checkout standard has therefore been developed and its application is discussed in this document.

Direct thermal extraction (DTE) is a thermal desorption technique in which a small amount of sample, typically 10-50 mg, is placed in an empty fritted thermal desorption tube or into a small vial (μ-vial) within an empty thermal desorption tube. The sample is then heated in a thermal desorption unit under a fl ow of inert gas, in order to release volatile and semi-volatile compounds. The analytes are trapped and fi nally determined by GC/MS. DTE requires little sample preparation and can be used for trace analysis of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds in solid or liquid samples.

The ability to perform accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of perfumes or flavored products is essential to the flavor and fragrance industry. Especially when unknown samples need to be analyzed, traditional methods of GC analysis often lead to only qualitative results and often rely on time consuming and cumbersome sample preparation techniques such as solvent extraction (liquid/liquid, Soxhlet, Likens-Nickerson).

This study shows the analysis of a commercially available personal care product using the GERSTEL MultiPurpose Sampler (MPS) configured with Thermal Desorption Unit (TDU), Cooled Injection System (CIS) PTV-type inlet, Dynamic Headspace (DHS) and pyrolysis (PYRO) modules in combination with a GC/MS system. Information regarding product composition can be obtained from the chromatographic profiles obtained from one analysis system using a variety of sample introduction techniques.

Accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of perfumed or flavored products is essential to the flavor and fragrance industry. Especially when unknown samples need to be analyzed traditional methods of GC analysis often lead to only vague results and often require time consuming and cumbersome sample preparation techniques such as solvent extraction (liquid/liquid, Soxhlet, Likens-Nickerson).

Aroma Office 2D (Gerstel K.K.) is an integrated software approach for simultaneous processing of retention index (RI) and mass spectra (MS) for rapid and improved identification of flavor/aroma compounds. The previous Ver. 6 (and earlier) of this software ran on the Agilent ChemStation platform and the current Ver. 7 upgrades to integration into MassHunter Unknowns Analysis. After MassHunter deconvolution and mass spectral library search, the data is processed by Aroma Office with cross searching of deconvoluted library search results and RI values. The Aroma Search module allows an entire Total Ion Chromatogram (TIC) to be processed automatically.

Static headspace analysis is often considered to be useful only when the analytes of interest are present in high concentrations. Although techniques like solid phase microextraction (SPME) and dynamic headspace (DHS) have better extraction effi ciencies, due to advances in mass spectrometry design, VOCs can now be detected in the parts per billion range using static headspace. Static headspace is routinely used for blood alcohol determination and for the analysis of residual solvents in pharmaceuticals. Method development is fast and simple, usually with little to no sample preparation.

In this study, Thin Film Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (TF-SPME) devices with carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane (CAR/PDMS), divinylbenzene/polydimethylsiloxane (DVB/PDMS), and hydrophilic lipophilic balanced/polydimethylsiloxane (HLB/PDMS) coatings are investigated for their usefulness for beverage analysis in combination with Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction (SBSE) using the GERSTEL Twister®. A variety of beverages are analyzed including almond milk, black tea, strawberry banana juice, amber lager, and pumpkin ale. The GERSTEL MPS is used in combination with a CIS 4 inlet and thermal desorber for automated thermal desorption of the TF-SPME devices.

Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction (SBSE) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and olfactory detection (GC-MS/O) allows for separation and identifi cation of aroma compounds in complex sample matrices with minimal sample preparation time. Aroma Dilution Analysis (ADA) is a solvent-free approach of Aroma Extract Dilution Analysis (AEDA) which employs a GC inlet system to split the carrier gas fl ow and thereby the injected sample to a desired ratio. The approach of ADA has been applied to direct immersion SBSE of bourbon samples for determination of fl avor dilution (FD) factors and identifi cation of key aroma-active compounds.