Monitoring of nicotine in air using sorptive enrichment on polydimethylsiloxane and TD-CGC-NPD

A novel method for the enrichment of nicotine from gaseous samples is presented. It is based on the sampling of 6 liters of air onto a cartridge packed with 100 % polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) particles. The analytes are dissolved (partitioned) into the PDMS phase which results in much better recoveries and reproducibilities compared to those obtained on common adsorbents. The PDMS tube is then placed in a thermal desorption (TD) unit connected to a CGC-NPD or CGC-MS system. The procedure was employed for routinely monitoring air in a hospital. Nicotine was typically found at levels ranging from 5 to 250 mu g m(-3) (ppb) depending on the location and number of smokers present. Additionally, the efficiency of nicotine filters was determined by sampling simultaneously at the filter in- and outlet and was found to be 46 %.