Development and validation of novel DH-GC-ITMS methods for the determination of Freon F-141b in formulated polyol and rigid polyurethane foam

Two efficient methods for the determination of 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane (Freon F-141b) in formulated polyol and rigid polyurethane foam by dynamic-headspace-gas chromatographyion trap-mass spectrometry were developed and validated. Rigid polyurethane foam was efficiently dissolved in dimethylformamide by beating at the temperature of 60 degreesC for 2 h. Validation was carried out in terms of limits of detection (LOD), limits of quantitation (LOQ), linearity, precision and recovery. LOD values of 4.00 mug kg(-1) for rigid polyurethane foam and 0.73 mug kg(-1) for formulated polyol were achieved, whereas linearity was statistically verified over one order of magnitude. Precision was evaluated testing two concentration levels. Good results were obtained both in terms of intra-day repeatability and between-day precision: RSD % lower than 4% (n = 6) at the concentration of 15 mug kg(-1) were calculated for intra-day repeatability. Extraction recoveries up to 92.6+/-1.6% (n = 3) were also calculated by the addition of Freon F-141b to the samples analysed. Both the methods were applied for the analysis of a number of formulated polyol and rigid polyurethane foam samples.