Environmental sample extracts contain a variety of volatile and nonvolatile organic compounds exhibiting a range of polarities and concentrations. Although gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is the method of choice thus far for such analyses, this technique used alone cannot adequately characterize the volatiles in such samples and is not amenable to environmental nonvolatiles. A more complete characterization of environmental and hazardous waste samples is required to assess the dangers posed to the nation's groundwater by hazardous waste dumps. Online spectral confirmation by directly linked GC/Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)/MS is shown to provide useful structural information on environmental volatiles in hazardous wastes, even when the analyte's spectrum is not in either spectral database. This information can lead to biological-hazard estimation. The diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared (DRIFT) technique, used in conjunction with thermospray MS or fast atom bombardment (FAB) MS, provides confirmed identifications or confirmed compound class assignments of organic nonvolatiles in solid wastes. This is believed to be the first report of spectral confirmation (identification or functionality) of organic volatiles and nonvolatiles in environmental samples.

Complex environmental wastes have been analyzed by fused silica capillary column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (FSCC/GC/MS) and fused silica capillary column gas chromatography/Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FSCC/GC/FT-IR). The two techniques used in conjunction are capable of determining or confirming the compound class of at least two thirds of all extract analytes. Detailed analytical results are presented that demonstrate that the relative strengths and shortcomings of each method are different and thus using both in conjunction leads to the identification of a far greater number of analytes than the use of either one alone. It is postulated that the present cost of using both techniques in conjunction can be substantially lowered by the direct interfacing of both spectrometers and the development of suitable computer software.