I. Gas chromatographic studies of complexes of organic donor compounds with transition metal chelates II. The determination of organic volatiles in air pollution studies : characterization of profiles

I. A gas chromatographic method is used to study the complexes of organic donor compounds with transition metal chelates. The metal chelate is dissolved in an organic solvent and used as the stationary phase. The organic donor compounds are in the mobile phase and elute through the column. Difficult separation problems in olefin analysis were solved by using this chromatographic process. In addition, thermodynamic data on the donor-acceptor complex were determined. II. An analytical method is described in which trace quantities of organic materials in air are adsorbed on a porous polymer of high temperature stability. The trapped substances are subsequently heat desorbed and transferred to a short precolumn which is kept at subambient temperature. Separation is effected by gas chromatography with efficient capillary columns. Identification of the separated compounds is established by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Profiles established over a period of approximately 18 months are remarkably constant for samples collected in urban environments. Once a profile is qualitatively made, quantitative results can be obtained for a large number of substances with a high degree of accuracy. The absolute concentrations of substances vary within wide limits, weather conditions being the prime factor. The overall picture does not suggest large compositional variations within samples taken from heavily industrialized areas and urban environments. Several hundred substances can be recognized, ranging from C[lowered 5] to C[lowered 16]. Almost 100 compounds, mostly alkanes and substituted aromatic hydrocarbons were identified. Other substances present in trace quantities are aldehydes and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Volatiles, eluting before benzene, can be determined only qualitatively, since displacement occurs by less volatile substances with increasing sample size. The new method has significant advantages over existing procedures such as ease of handling, versatility, simplicity and economy.