Analysis of organic esters of plasticizer in indoor air by GC-MS and GC-FPD

The aim of this study was to assess the performance of a method of analyzin g organic esters of plasticizer in indoor air by sampling air in a charcoal tube and extracting the esters in toluene using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and flame photometric detector(FPD). An internal stand ardization method was used for the GCMS measurement of phthalate esters, wh ereas an external calibration method was employed to determine the levels o f phosphate esters by FPD. The instrumental detection limit, the instrument al lower limit of determination, and the blank and method detection limits were also determined. Mean recoveries of phthalate esters from the charcoal tube were 97.9-115%. Mean recoveries of phosphate esters were lower but re producible. Recoveries of the esters from indoor air were generally greater than 80%. For all the compounds, no significant breakthrough was detected up to 100 mug. Thus, indoor organic esters could be accurately determined i n the range of 0.6 x 10(-3)-23 mug/m(3) by the procedure presented here. Pr eliminary analysis of the organic esters indicated that exposure to phthala te esters via indoor air inhalation could constitute a significant contribu tion to total daily intake.