Sensitive analysis of some detrimental volatile organic compounds in fabric, carpet and air freshener using solid phase extraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene are known to be lethal environmental contaminants that have carcinogenic and mutagenic influences in human being while styrene and benzaldehyde have a neurotoxic effect. In other hand, the constituents of air freshener considered as a probable source of volatile organic compound. In the present work, a solid phase extraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique has been optimized and applied to the fabric, carpet and air freshener samples to determine the trace amounts of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, styrene and benzaldehyde. The SupelcleanTM ENVITM - 18 cartridge with dichloromethane extracting solvent were found to be the optimal procedures. The system presented excellent performance in terms of limit of detection (0.08-0.61 ng/mL), coefficient of determination (0.994-0.997), precision with the relative standard deviation values ranging from 0.05-2.57%. According to the results, the concentration of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, styrene and benzaldehyde in fresheners’ samples was found in the range 0.03-53.27, 0.03-7.12, 0.02-6.51, 0.05-96.44, 0.04-7.06 and 0.22-23.02, respectively. The excellent recovery values were also obtained up to 99.93%. The SupelcleanTM ENVITM - 18 GC-MS system was found to appropriate for the monitoring of analytes in fabric, carpet, air freshener samples, and other samples of the similar constituents. KEY WORDS: BTEX, Styrene, Benzaldehyde, Air freshener, Solid phase extraction, Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2024, 38(6), 1543-1556. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v38i6.4