Carbon dioxide (CO2) microbubbles
can selectively enrich
organic solutes from sea spray aerosols. Common bubbling extractions
are normally followed by off-line separation/detection through methods
such as mass spectrometry, chromatography, and spectroscopy. However,
it is necessary to establish extractions with online separation and
identification systems to improve efficiency and minimize sample loss.
In this study, CO2 is used to form microbubbles in the
sample solution, and trace analytes in the solution are transported
to the gas phase by bubble bursting. Analytes at the liquid–gas
interface are directly released into the trapping device, followed
by thermal desorption for gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.
For polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the dependence of the extraction
efficiency on various parameters has been analyzed. The method reported
here provides high efficiency and minimizes the loss of trace volatiles
with a better signal strength and signal-to-noise ratio than other
gases. These features make the proposed method a rapid method to detect
and quantify volatile/semivolatile analytes in complex liquid matrices.
In addition to the preconcentration of organics, metal ions, and inorganic
anions, a noticeable decrease of metal–organic compounds in
the aqueous solution was shown for the first time. We finally propose
a simple model of chemical partitioning in CO2 bubbling
extraction of liquid samples for guiding online monitoring of trace
analytes in real-world samples.