Considerations on static and dynamic sorptive and adsorptive sampling to monitor volatiles emitted by living plants

Static and dynamic headspace sampling have been applied for the enrichment of volatiles emitted by living plants. For solid phase microextraction (SPM E) the sorptive fibers polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyacrylate (PA) ha ve been compared and, in accordance with the like-like principle, polar com pounds exhibit more affinity for the PA fiber while apolar solutes favor th e PDMS fiber. For dynamic sampling, tubes packed with PDMS particles show g reater inertness than Tenax; some Tenax decomposition products, e.g. benzal dehyde and acetophenone, interfere with the analyses, With PDMS particles o perated in the breakthrough mode, the obtained profiles are similar to thos e obtained by SPME on the PA fiber. Recoveries relative to a packed PDMS be d are 85% for Tenax, 2.4% for SPME-PDMS, and 6.2% for SPME-PA.