Cleanliness of common air sampling sorbents for application to phenolic compounds measurement using supercritical fluid extraction

The trace-level measurement of phenolic compounds in the ambient air is complicated by the acidic and polar nature of the compounds especially during recovery from the sampling medium. Recently, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been proposed as an alternative extraction method to Soxhlet extraction or thermal desorption to achieve more efficient recoveries. For such methodology to become practical, the candidate sorbents must first be tested for stability and cleanliness under SFE conditions. This paper describes exploratory research results of background contamination tests and cleanup properties of some common air sampling sorbent media with respect to future application to phenolic compounds monitoring.