VOLATILE ORGANO-HALOGEN TRACE ANALYSIS IN BEVERAGES BY THIN-LAYER HEADSPACE ENRICHMENT AND ELECTRON-CAPTURE GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Applicability of thin-layer headspace (TLHS) procedure giving an aqueo us concentrate and also classical purge and trap (PT) in off-line mode to isolate and enrich volatile organohalogen compounds in common beve rages was tested. Both enrichment techniques were used in combination with gas chromatography - electron capture detection (GC-ECD). TLHS, c ombined with direct aqueous injection (DAI)-GC-ECD, proved applicable in the determination of volatile organohalogen compounds in all studie d beverages, while the PT in a version with no preliminary sample pre- treatment was of limited applicability. Detection limits of the TLHS-b ased procedure were in the order of 1 ppt. Content of volatile organoh alogen compounds in a number of beverages available on the Polish mark et including mineral waters, beers, juices, carbonated and non-carbona ted soft drinks, etc. was determined by means of TLHS-DAI-GC-ECD.