EVALUATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE AUTOMATIC THERMAL-DESORPTION METHOD IN THE GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETERMINATION OF PLANT VOLATILE COMPOUNDS

The automatic thermal desorption (ATD) method was used in the gas chro matographic determination of the volatile components of plants. The re producibility of the method was evaluated for several operating condit ions; the results were better than those obtained with other sample pr eparation methods (simultaneous distillation-extraction and solvent ex traction). Some applications of the ATD method in the gas chromatograp hic determination of volatile components of Umbelliferae seeds are als o presented, including the determination of the enantiomeric forms of limonene.