Quantifying exhaled acetone and isoprene through solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

The objective of this study was to develop an accessible method to quantify acetone and isoprene in breath by SPME GC-MS.RESULTS: A system was developed to mimic human exhalation and expose VOCs to a SPME fiber in the gas phase at known concentrations. VOCs were bubbled/diluted with dry air at a fixed flow rate, duration, and volume that was comparable to a previously developed breath sampling method. Identification of acetone and isoprene through GC-MS was verified using standards and observing overlaps in chromatographic retention/mass spectral fragmentation. Calibration curves were developed for these two analytes, which showed a high degree of linear correlation. Acetone and isoprene displayed limits of detection/quantification equal to 12 ppb/37 ppb and 73 ppb/222 ppb respectively. Quantification results in healthy breath samples (n = 15) showed acetone concentrations spanned between 71 ppb and 294 ppb, and isoprene varied between 170 ppb and 990 ppb. Both concentration ranges for acetone and isoprene in this study overlap with those reported in existing literature.SIGNIFICANCE: Results indicate the development of a system to quantify acetone and isoprene in breath that can be adapted to diverse sampling methods and instrumental analyses beyond SPME GC-MS.PMID:38553125 | DOI:10.1016/j.aca.2024.342468

Source: Analytica Chimica Acta - March 29, 2024 Category: Chemistry Authors: Eray Schulz Mark Woollam Sneha Vashistha Mangilal Agarwal Source Type: research