A CHEMODYNAMIC APPROACH FOR ESTIMATING LOSSES OF TARGET ORGANIC-CHEMICALS FROM WATER DURING SAMPLE HOLDING TIME

Minimizing the loss of target organic chemicals from environmental wat er samples between the time of sample collection and isolation is impo rtant to the integrity of an investigation. During this sample holding time, there is a potential for analyte loss through volatilization fr om the water to the headspace, sorption to the walls and cap of the sa mple bottle; and transformation through biotic and/or abiotic reaction s. This paper presents a chemodynamic-based, generalized approach to e stimate the most probable loss processes for individual target The bas ic premise is that the investigator must know which loss process(es) a re important for a particular analyte, based on its chemodynamic prope rties, when choosing the appropriate method(s) to prevent loss.