Determination of diamondoids in crude oils using gas purge microsyringe extraction with comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry

•Gas purge microsyringe extraction of crude oil samples was developed for the first time.•27 Diamandoid marker compounds were identified and quantified accurately.•Satisfactory limits of detection, linearity and recoveries were obtained.

Based on a homemade device, gas purge microsyringe extraction (GP-MSE) of crude oil samples was developed for the first time. As a simple, fast, low-cost, sensitive and solvent-saving technique, GP-MSE provides some outstanding advantages over the widely used sample preparation methods for crude oils such as column chromatography (ASTM D2549). Several parameters affecting extraction efficiency were optimized, including extraction temperature, extraction time, extraction solvent, condensing temperature and purge gas flow rate. With the optimized GP-MSE conditions, several real crude oil samples were extracted, and trace diamondoids were determined using comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-TOFMS). In total, more than 100 diamondoids were detected and 27 marker compounds were identified and quantified accurately. The limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) were less than 0.08 μg/L for all diamondoids. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was below 8%, ranging from 1.1 to 7.6%. The linearity of the developed method was in the range of 0.5-100.0 μg/L with correlation coefficients (R2) more than 0.996. The recoveries obtained at spiking 50 μg/L were between 81 and 108% for diamondoids in crude oil samples. The developed method can also be extended to the analysis of other components in crude oils and other complex matrices.