Toxicological evaluation of gasolines by GC-MS analysis

The present directives of European Community have mandated the elimination of Tetraethyl Lead (TEL) as an antiknock additive in motor gasoline to prev ent environmental pollution and protect human health. Moreover the European Community has established new guidelines for the Benzene and Aromatic cont ents of gasoline. These directives have focused the attention on the analyt ical problems related to the determination of specific compounds of environ mental interest in a hydrocarbon matrix. In the present work two analytical methods are proposed; they are based on a gas chromatographic technique with mass spectrometry detection in selecte d ions monitoring (GC-MS-SIM) mode. The first one has been used for the vol atile compounds (split mode) and the second one for higher boiling compound s (splitless mode). This technique, because of its selectivity, does not require sample pre-tre atment other than the addition of an internal standard. The analysis of a 5 -10 mL gasoline sample can be performed in less than 40 minutes. These meth ods can be considered as accurate tools to evaluate the compounds of toxico logical interest in gasoline samples. The analyses were carried out to meas ure TEL, 1,2-dibromoethane, benzene, aromatic, naphthalene and phenanthrene in samples of different grade of motor gasoline, aviation gasoline and unl eaded gasoline. The sensitivity and reproducibility are compared with other analytical meth ods as AAS and GC-ECD.