Identification of volatile organic compounds in blood by purge and trap PLOT-capillary gas chromatography coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

A purge and trap concentrator with a Tenax trap was coupled to gas chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry for the identification of volatile organic compounds in blood samples. A styrene-divinyl benzene porous layer capillary column allowed the separation of compounds such as household and medical gases, solvents and alcohol congeners. The identification limits in blood, measured by comparison to an in-house vapour phase spectrum library, generally ranged from 0.05 to 10 mg/1, depending on the analyte structure. Low molecular weight alcohols had identification limits up to 100 mg/1. Six actual casework examples were collected during a 1-year period of routine use to demonstrate the feasibility of the method.