OBJECTIVETo establish and compare the method of static headspace gas chromatography hydrogen flame detector (static headspace method) and purge and trap gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (dynamic headspace method) of anisole in water.

METHODSNitrogen gas was used as carrier gas in the static headspace method, 5 g NaCl as matrix modifier was added into 10 ml water. The sample was balanced with high speed vibration at 75°C for 30 min, and anisole was detected by gas chromatography and quantified with external standard. Helium was used as carrier gas in dynamic headspace method, 5.0 ml water and 0.004 mg/L internal standard fluorobenzene was purged into the purge and trap apparatus. After purging, trapping and desorption, anisole was detected by the gas chromatography-mass spectrograph, confirmed by the retention time and comparison of mass-spectrogram in spectrum library and quantified with internal standard. The repeatability and sensitivity of assay were evaluated.

RESULTSA good linear range for anisole was observed in static headspace gas chromatography and dynamic headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, within the range of 10 - 500 µg/L and 0.5 - 60.0 µg/L respectively. The linear regression equation was Y = 782.150X + 1.3446 and Y = 0.0358X - 0.0209 respectively, both the correlation coefficient ≥ 0.999. The detection limit (LOD) were 0.002 µg/L and 0.110 µg/L, the lower limit of quantitation (LOQ) were 0.006 µg/L and 0.350 µg/L, the relative standard deviation (RSD) were 1.8% - 2.3% and 2.0% - 3.4%, and the spiking recovery were 93% - 101% and 96% - 101% respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe methods of static headspace gas chromatography and dynamic headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry are simple and can measure anisole in water quickly, sensitively and accurately.