A New Approach for the Measurement of Volatile Organic Compounds in Human Skin Gas by Chromatography

This study investigated the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human skin gas and standard gas using modified gas chromatographic system. It devised sampling glass syringe temperature at 25°C or heating 80°C prior to injecting sampling gas into a gas chromatograph. The peak area of 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one at 50, 100, and 250 ppb heated at 80°C was 337, 236, and 214% higher than that at 25°C, respectively. The peak area of hexanal at 50, 100, and 250 ppb heated at 80°C was 164, 159, and 135% higher than that heated at 25°C, respectively. Likewise, the peak area of acetone at 50, 100, and 250 ppb heated at 80°C was 115, 116, and 109% higher than that heated at 25°C, respectively. These results suggest that a higher VOC peak area can be obtained by heating the sampling glass syringe before injection into the gas chromatograph.