A procedure to monitor BVOC emitted by living plants using SPME technique is presented. For this purpose, a glass sampling chamber was designed. This device was employed for the characterization of biogenic volatile compounds emitted by leaves of Eucalyptus citriodora. After extraction with SPME fibers coated with PDMS/ DVB, it was possible to identify or detect 33 compounds emitted by this plant. A semiquantitative approach was applied to monitor the behavior of the emitted BVOC during 9 days. Circadian profiles of the variation in the concentration of isoprene were plotted. Using diffusion-based SPME quantitation, a recently introduced analytical approach, with extraction times as short as 15 s, it was possible to quantify subparts-per-billion amounts of isoprene emitted by this plant.

Headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry-65 microm polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB) was used to identify and monitor the emission patterns of biogenic volatile organic compounds from leaves of Eucalyptus dunnii, Eucalyptus saligna, and Eucalyptus citriodora in situ. Short extractions (1 min) were performed every 30 min for periods of 8-10 h during 24 days taking advantage of the high capacity of this porous polymer coating. Forty-two compounds were detected and 20 identified in the headspace of E. saligna leaves, and 19 of 27 compounds were identified in the headspace of E. dunnii leaves. The emission pattern of (E)-beta-ocimene and rose oxide suggests that they may play a bioactive role in Eucalyptus.