A simple water treatment process called SODIS (solar water disinfection) consists of filling polluted water in PET bottles that are exposed to sunlight for 5-6 hours. However, sunlight does not only destroy disease-causing microorganisms found in the water but also transforms the plastic material into photoproducts. Laboratory and field tests revealed that these photoproducts are generated at the outer surface of the bottles. No indication for migration of possible photoproducts or additives from PET bottles into water was observed with the applied analytical methods.

DART (Direct Analysis in Real Time) is an innovative technology to analyze complex solid samples at atmospheric pressure and ground potential by simply placing them between a DART ion source and a mass spectrometer. The analytes are ionized by a gun of neutral metastable species. The first examples of the application of DART to the analysis of flavor and fragrance raw materials in real, complex applications are reported here. A remarkably high potential of the technique is demonstrated. DART was applied to semi-quantitative analyses of perfumery raw materials deposited on smelling strips. In optimal cases, limits of detection around 100 pg were achieved. DART also allowed the assessment of the deposition and release of fragrance on surfaces such as fabric and hair. Finally, DART permitted the screening of twelve chewing gum samples for the possible presence of taste-refreshing compounds in less than 30 min.

Carbonaceous aerosol particles stemming from combustion processes play a key role in air pollution. Major emission sources include Diesel vehicles, gasoline vehicles, residential heating, wood fires, and cigarettes. The chemical characterization of the particles is essential to the identification of their origin. This task can be accomplished using two-step laser mass spectrometry (L2MS). Only small sample quantities are necessary, and the measurements can be performed within minutes. L2MS was found to be a valuable alternative to more laborious chemical analysis techniques that often require extensive sample preparation. Tracer mass spectral patterns were identified, notably based on specific polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). Their specificity allows the identification of different particle emission sources at sites of exposure.

Several analytical mass spectrometric and optical spectroscopic methods require a step during which a nonvolatile substance is desorbed by a laser pulse. It is, however, very difficult to use these methods for quantitative measurements because an accurate control over the amount desorbed by the laser pulse is generally not possible, especially when mixtures of several substances are used. We report a new fast and convenient sample preparation procedure that solves these problems. A solution of the analytes is mixed with a solution of poly(vinyl chloride) to obtain a homogeneous and vacuum-stable thin polymer membrane after the solvent has evaporated. Laser ablation is then performed directly from this membrane, allowing an accurate control of the amount of ablated analytes and excellent reproducibility. Quantitative laser desorption mass spectrometry over three orders of magnitude as well as optical spectroscopic measurements using this sample preparation method are demonstrated for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

An innovative headspace sampling and injection system for gas chromatography was designed using a longitudinally modulating cryogenic system mounted around the sampling loop of a two-position loop injector. The setup was hyphenated to a fast low thermal mass gas chromatograph, allowing transient concentrations of semivolatile analytes to be monitored in real time with a time resolution of 4.5 min. The performance of the instrument, and in particular its cryotrapping efficiency, was characterized using a mixture of long-chain alkanes, methyl esters, ethyl esters, and alcohols of different volatilities. The device was found to be ideally suited to the analysis of semivolatile compounds with boiling points ranging between 190 and 320 degrees C, which are typical for a majority of perfumery raw materials. The new instrument was successfully used to monitor the release of eight odorant compounds from cotton towels to which fabric softener had been applied that alternatively contained the fragrance in free form or in microencapsulated form. The analytical results, unprecedented in their level of precision and time resolution for such an application, evidenced the major impact of microencapsulation technology on the kinetics of fragrance release during the drying of the towels and on the triggering of additional fragrance release by applying mechanical stress to the fabric to rupture the microcapsule walls.