Determination of trichloroanisole and trichlorophenol in wineries’ ambient air by passive sampling and thermal desorption–gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

• Analysis of trichlorophenol and trichloroanisole in passive sampling cartridges.
• Sampling rates of both compounds are calculated for radial passive samplers.
• Three different materials for passive sampling in the ambient air of wineries were tested.
• The developed method was tested in different locations of a winery.
• The developed method is useful for early detection of wine contamination sources.

The present paper describes the calibration of selected passive samplers used in the quantitation of trichlorophenol and trichloroanisole in wineries’ ambient air, by calculating the corresponding sampling rates. The method is based on passive sampling with sorbent tubes and involves thermal desorption–gas chromatography–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry analysis. Three commercially available sorbents were tested using sampling cartridges with a radial design instead of axial ones. The best results were found for Tenax TA™. Sampling rates (R-values) for the selected sorbents were determined. Passive sampling was also used for accurately determining the amount of compounds present in the air. Adequate correlation coefficients between the mass of the target analytes and exposure time were obtained. The proposed validated method is a useful tool for the early detection of trichloroanisole and its precursor trichlorophenol in wineries’ ambient air while avoiding contamination of wine or winery facilities.