DIFFERENTIATION OF DIETHYL-ETHER ACETONE AND ETHANOL ACETONITRILE SOLVENT PAIRS, AND OTHER COMMON VOLATILES BY DUAL-COLUMN HEADSPACE GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Gas chromatography is the most widely used method for the analysis of ethanol and other low molecular weight volatiles for forensic applicat ions. Many laboratories use only a single analytical method for this a nalyte. Concern over the possible misidentification of acetonitrile as ethanol, and our experience in a case where we misidentified diethyl ether as acetone using a single method approach, led us to develop and adopt the dual column method described herein. Two columns, 5% carbow ax on 60/80 Carbopak B, and 0.8% THEED on 80/100 carbopak C, were used for the complementary analysis of 32 common volatile organic compound s.