Methyl benzoate as a marker for the detection of mold in indoor building materials

Abstract

A convenient analytical method to quantify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from various building materials has not been addressed yet. This work presents a new and rapid automated method using SPME combined with GC/MS. Methyl benzoate - as a metabolic biomarker for mold growth-was used to indicate VOCs and to determine and assess mold growth on damp samples. Gypsum board and wall-board paper were used as examples of common indoor building materials. Optimized extraction conditions were carried out manually, using a GC/flame ionization detector. Moldy samples were analyzed using an automated SPME-GC/MS analysis under optimized conditions. The amount of methyl benzoate emitted from the studied samples ranged from 32 to 46 ppb, where the density of the fungal biomass was found to be 8 x 10(4) cells/mL. A relationship between the amount of fungal biomass and the emitted concentration of methyl benzoate was found and assessed based upon cultured mold samples taken from indoor building sites. The analytical method shows promise for the compound methyl benzoate, which can easily be identified at low detection limits (LOD = 3 ppb) and good linearity (>0.988), and its extraction and detection can be accomplished cleanly by current extraction techniques. Results suggest that this method with easy sample preparation can be used for quantitation and, of importance, minimal matrix effects are observed.

A method for early detection and identification of fungal contamination of building materials using e-nose

“…All samples were also analyzed for methyl and ethyl benzoate, tetrachloroethylene and 1,2-dichlorobenzene; however, they were not detected in significant amounts [42].…”

“…It is also worth mentioning, that metabolites can be dependent on the fungal strains found in a given area [42]. The usefulness of this method is questionable, as the highest results are at the limit of detection.…”

“…Spectral libraries applied for identification–NIST 2005 and Wiley 8 th Edition. Similar methodology was applied in the following researches [41,42].…”

Application of solid‐phase microextraction with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry for the early detection of active moulds on historical woollen objects

“…2). These volatiles belong to several groups of organic compounds [10,15,19,30,[32][33][34] including: hydrocarbons (heptane, isoprene), aromatic hydrocarbons (styrene, benzene), alcohols (1-octen-3-ol, 3-octanol, 3-methyl-1butanol), aldehydes, ketones (2-octanone, 1-octen-3-one, 3-octanone), organic acids, ethers, esters (butyl acetate), terpenes (limonene), sesquiterpenes (humulene, nerolidol, bisabolene), and organic compounds containing sulfur or nitrogen ( Table 2).…”

“…The identification process of MVOCs was focused mostly on compounds (alcohols: 1-octen-3-ol, 3-octanol, ketones: 1-octen-3-one, 2-octanone, 3-octanone, hexanone or heptanone, terpenes, and sesquiterpenes) that are already defined [10,15,20,32,35], as it was mentioned in the introduction. They are emitted in high concentrations and are adequate for detecting the metabolic activity of many fungi species [10,15,20,[32][33][34], especially compounds belonging to the group of volatiles with a C 8 chain are important in the analysis [10,18,36]. This group has been recommended for the detection of vegetative moulds' forms because it distinguishes between active and inactive fungi [10,15-18, 20,32,35].…”