The application of an open tubular trap in analysis of organic air pollutants

The paper presents the studies on equilibrium trapping of organic air pollutants. A piece of a commercial capillary chromatographic column coated with polydimethylsiloxane was used for trapping. This kind of the trap was applied for sampling and enrichment of selected volatile nonpolar organic compounds from workplace atmosphere (woodworking shop). In the method developed, which is based on equilibrium trapping the concentration of analytes in a studied medium can be calculated from the partition coefficients determined in a calibration step and the amount of particular analytes trapped. Simultaneously with equilibrium trapping, analytes were sampled into sorbent packed tubes. The concentrations of analytes in woodworking shop atmosphere obtained with both sampling methods (equilibrium and dynamic) were in good agreement.