The development of a thermally desorbable miniature passive dosimeter (MPD) for very high sensitivity STEL monitoring of organic vapors has been completed by our research group. Given an analysis time of 15-30 minutes per sample, plus quality control assays, a single series of STEL samples from one worker would tie up a gas chromatograph (GC) for a full day. Therefore, there is a need for a rapid GC method of analysis for organic vapor samples collected on passive dosimeters. The use of GC for the real-time analysis of vapors is also severely limited by the analysis time required and the lack of sensitivity of the method. For example, for multiple components, such as at a refinery, each GC analysis will take 15-30 mins, sensitivity will be significantly degraded, and the utility of the GC method for area monitoring/alarm will be seriously compromised. Therefore, there is a need for a rapid, sensitive GC method of analysis for organic samples collected as vapors (as with a plant area monitor/alarm). GC is also used for the analysis of CS2 eluates of adsorbent tubes. These analyses generally takes 10-30 minutes per sample. A method that would permit the analysis of CS2 solutions in 10 seconds would save significant laboratory resources. Recently, a high speed GC system has been described by our research group that was demonstrated to be capable of analyzing a nine-component test mixture of organic compounds in just over 6 seconds. This is an improvement in analysis speed when compared to conventional GC of 102 times. Along with the improvement in speed, an expected improvement in sensitivity on the order of 10 times is expected. Therefore, this proposal is aimed at testing the following hypotheses: 1. Vapor samples collected on passive dosimeters can be thermally desorbed/analyzed using the fast GC system in 10 seconds or less with no degradation of performance when compared to conventional GC methods. 2. Air samples can be directly analyzed within 10 secs at sensitivities significantly higher than those achievable using present methods. 3. CS2 solutions of target analytes can be analyzed in 10 seconds.
