Determination of chemical warfare agents and related compounds in environmental samples by solid-phase microextraction with gas chromatography

► SPME–GC simplifies faster and safer analysis of CWA and related compounds. ► Derivatization on SPME fibers allows the analysis of degradation products of CWA. ► New SPME fiber coatings demonstrate lower detection levels and increase selectivity. Solid phase microextraction (SPME) is an increasingly common method of sample isolation and enhancement. SPME is a convenient and simple sample preparation technique for chromatographic analysis and a useful alternative to liquid–liquid extraction and solid phase extraction. SPME is speed and simply method, which has been widely used in environmental analysis because it is a rather safe method when dealing with highly toxic chemicals. A combination of SPME and gas chromatography (GC) permits both the qualitative and quantitative analysis of toxic industrial compounds, pesticides and chemical warfare agents (CWAs), including their degradation products, in air, water and soil samples. This work presents a combination of SPME and GC methods with various types of detectors in the analysis of CWAs and their degradation products in air, water, soil and other matrices. The combination of SPME and GC methods allows for low detection limits depending on the analyte, matrix and detection system. Commercially available fibers have been mainly used to extract CWAs in headspace analysis. However, attempts have been made to introduce new fiber coatings that are characterized by higher selectivities towards different analytes of interest. Environmental decomposition of CWAs leads to the formation of more hydrophilic products. These compounds may be isolated from samples using SPME and analyzed using GC however, they must often be derivatized first to produce good chromatography. In these cases, one must ensure that the SPME method also meets the same needs. Otherwise, it is helpful to use derivatization methods. SPME may also be used with fieldportable mass spectrometry (MS) and GC–MS instruments for chemical defense applications, including field sampling and analysis. SPME fibers can be taken into contaminated areas to directly sample air, headspaces above solutions, soils and water.