Organic aerosols analysis by thermal desorption-gas chromatographic method

Monitoring of organic aerosols is traditionally conducted by either active or passive sampling of air to various kinds of sorbents. The adsorbed organic compounds are then extracted using different methods. Commonly used methods are ultrasonic extraction and Soxhlet extraction. These methods require the use of different solvents. Some solvents are flammable and toxic and therefore they are harmful to analysts. In addition, the sensitivity of analysis could be lowered by a thousand--fold because only a small aliquot of extracted solvent is actually used for analysis.