Christopher L. Marcum 1 ; Bert C. Lynn 2

1. Septum Piercing Needle Plunger Barrel SPME Fiber Cutaway view of SPME fiber in manual holder Determination of BTEX Compounds in Ambient Air Using Solid Phase Microextraction Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Christopher L. Marcum1; Bert C. Lynn2 • Department of Chemistry, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY • Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY Conclusions Introduction Results and Discussion • Air quality is of paramount importance. Exposure to air which contains contaminants can lead to major health problems including nervous system damage. • Recently, solid phase microextraction (SPME) has been offered as an alternative to traditional air sampling techniques for determination of air contaminants. • The purpose of our study is to develop a technique for the determination of BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) in ambient indoor air using SPME, coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). • Evidence also shows a possible link between these BTEX contaminants and electronic equipment, such as laser printers and copiers. • SPME proved to be a very simple technique for air sampling and, when coupled with GC/MS, was very sensitive and selective for volatile organic compounds, including BTEX compounds. • Although concentrations were not determined, the chemistry copy room, chemistry office, and intellectual property office had the highest levels of contamination from BTEX compounds. • We found no observable link between either the presence or the use of a laser printer and an increase in BTEX compounds in the air. • We also were unable to link the presence of a copy machine to an increase in BTEX contamination. B D A C Benzene tR=1.75 min Toluene tR= 2.65 min Future Work Experimental Methods A B m-Xylene and/or p-Xylene tR= 3.83 min Ethylbenzene tR= 3.71 min • Air sampling was accomplished through the use of a carboxen/PDMS SPME fiber placed in a manual holder. Before sampling, each fiber was conditioned for 2 hours in a hot GC injection port. The chromatogram (top) is from a SPME fiber exposed for 6 hours in the chemistry department copy room. The peaks labeled A-D were identified as the BTEX compounds shown above. Chromatograms were obtained from each location and the peak areas were examined in order to compare the locations. • Analysis of other locations, including other campus buildings and perhaps some off-campus locations • Use of other traditional air sampling techniques to verify SPME results • Determine the concentration of BTEX compounds in each sample location • Testing of other possible sources of BTEX contamination using glove bag techniques 1 – Chemistry Copy Room 2 – Chemistry Office 3 – Intellectual Property Office 4 – ASTeCC Copy Room 5 – ASTeCC Conference Room 6 – Outside ASTeCC D C • Several locations were sampled across the campus of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY: • Chemistry Department Copy Room, Chemistry Physics • Building • Chemistry Department Office, Chemistry-Physics • Building • Intellectual Property Office, Advanced Science and • Technology Commercialization Center (ASTeCC) • Building • Copy/Fax Room, ASTeCC Building • Conference Room, ASTeCC Building • Outside the ASTeCC Building Acknowledgements • The peak areas for BTEX compounds were much greater in the chemistry copy room, chemistry office and intellectual property office. • We are grateful to the Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky REU program, funded by NSF and the Air Force ASSURE program for support of this work. • Fibers were transported to and from sample locations in clean glass tubes. Each sample fiber had an associated trip blank, which was not exposed to the air. • Immediately following sampling, analysis of the fibers was carried out via a Varian 3400 4D GC/MS equipped with electron ionization and an ion trap mass analyzer. • The effects of a laser printer on air quality were determined by enclosing a laser printer in a nitrogen filled glove bag and sampling the air in the bag while the printer was in several configurations: off, on without toner, and while printing. 1 – Nitrogen Only 2 – Printer Off 3 – Printer On 4 – Printer Printing • We would also like to thank the University of Kentucky Mass Spectrometry Facility and Michael Timmons for their assistance with this project.  • Peak areas for BTEX compounds did not increase within an enclosed glove bag when a laser printer was introduced, turned on, or printing.