Solvent and Column Recommendation for GCMS Analysis

Hi vahidm,

the best way would be headspace, which is solvent-less. You cannot inject bacterial culture medium into a GC. Otherwise use a solvent that is immiscible in water, do a liquid-liquid extraction, dry the organic layer (classic way or with a Na2SO4 SPE cartridge) and inject on DB-5ms, DB-1ms or VF-1ms. Solvents can be hydrocarbons like n-Hexane, Isooctane, etc.

Hi vahidm,

the best way would be headspace, which is solvent-less. You cannot inject bacterial culture medium into a GC. Otherwise use a solvent that is immiscible in water, do a liquid-liquid extraction, dry the organic layer (classic way or with a Na2SO4 SPE cartridge) and inject on DB-5ms, DB-1ms or VF-1ms. Solvents can be hydrocarbons like n-Hexane, Isooctane, etc.

Thanks for your response.

since n-C16 is less volatile, Do you think headspace works? if yes, what is the procedure?

It is less volatile, but should work from your aqueous medium. Incubation temperature 80-90 °C, incubation time 10-20 minutes. With a SPME PDMS fiber (10%) you could even improve it more.