Trace determination of lower volatile fatty acids in sediments by gas chromatography with chemically bonded FFAP columns

A capillary gas—liquid chromatography method was developed for the quantification of free lower volatile fatty acids (LVFA) in freshwater sediments. The method is based on the application of water-resistant FFAP (free fatty acid phase) columns and splitless injection. An important feature is the abi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Chromatography A 1990, Vol.511, p.317-323
Main Authors: Hordijk, Cornelis A., Burgers, Ilse, Phylipsen, Gerardina J.M., Cappenberg, Thomas E.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:A capillary gas—liquid chromatography method was developed for the quantification of free lower volatile fatty acids (LVFA) in freshwater sediments. The method is based on the application of water-resistant FFAP (free fatty acid phase) columns and splitless injection. An important feature is the ability to determine LVFA directly at picomole levels in 1–3 μl of water without sample extraction, clean-up or derivatization. Continuous saturation of the carrier gas with formic acid is superfluous, making this method compatible with mass-selective detection. Detection limits of 0.2 pmol can be obtained for propionate with mass-selective detection and 1 pmol for acetate with flame ionization detection. The ability to study LVFA metabolism using stable isotope tracers is discussed. The method allows the measurement of well defined concentration profiles (4–70 μM) in sediment pore waters and is a good alternative to existing techniques for determining trace amounts of LVFA in very small volumes of organic-rich matrices.
ISSN:0021-9673
DOI:10.1016/S0021-9673(01)93294-7