Particle-into-liquid sampler on-line coupled with solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry for the determination of organic acids in atmospheric aerosols

In the present study, sample collection and preparation were directly integrated with a chromatographic system by coupling a particle-into-liquid sampler for the first time on-line with solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Several organic acids, such as adipic, hydroxyglutaric, mandelic, vanillic, cis-pinonic, pinic, azelaic and sebacic, were used in the research. For sample pretreatment and concentration, strong anion exchange material was used in the extraction. Sampling, extraction and analysis conditions were optimized to obtain reliable information about aerosol chemical composition. To evaluate the performance of the on-line coupled system, half of each sample was analysed on-line and the other half was derivatized and analysed off-line by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Comparison of the two techniques with use of t-test showed the results to be in an excellent agreement. Limits of detection of studied acids in on-line system were between 0.1 and 0.9 ng. The on-line coupled system is fast and reliable and a promising tool for the real time analysis of organic acids in atmospheric aerosols.