Abstract
The purge and trap (P&T) technique was improved for measuring the release of organic compounds with weak volatility (weak VOCs) from dry plant materials. Using distilled water as a dispersant, the plant tissues were mulled and placed in the purge tube of a P&T concentrator. Then the sample-containing purge tube was heated to 80 °C with helium as the carrier gas, and the purged volatiles were preconcentrated in the trap prior to analysis with GC-MS. The VOCs in Chinese herbal medicinal plants Swertia tetraptera, Saussurea involucrate and S. lacostei, which had been stored dry for 1–2.5 years were assayed with this improved method and conventional P&T techniques. Our results show this new P&T method had great promise for determining the VOCs in dry plant materials. Using this new technique, we identified 38 weak VOCs with a large peak area from the dry samples. In contrast, less than five VOCs were detected by the conventional P&T method. So the improved heat-purge and trap system showed to be more efficient for measuring the release of the weak VOCs from dry plant materials.
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Acknowledgments
National Natural Science Foundation of China, no. 30470154, 30771116; the New Century Training Program Foundation for Talents by the Chinese Ministry of Education (NCET-05-0581); Doctor Station Foundation Fellowship Chinese Natural Education Ministry, no. 20050422015 supported this study.
The authors thank Roberta Greenwood for her help in editing this manuscript.
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Li-Hua Zang and Yan-Ling Liu contributed equally to this work.
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Zang, LH., Liu, YL., Liu, JQ. et al. An Improved Method for Testing Weak VOCs in Dry Plants with a Purge and Trap Concentrator Coupled to GC-MS. Chroma 68, 351–356 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1365/s10337-008-0733-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1365/s10337-008-0733-0