Quantitative Performance of a Simple Tenax-GC Adsorption Method For Use in the Analysis of Aroma Volatiles

A simple method for obtaining ether extracts of aroma volatiles from foods for gas chromatographic analysis using single-use Tenax-GC collection tubes is described. The method was characterized quantitatively for the collection of a variety of compounds from model systems by both dynamic-purging (10 ppb level) and equilibrium displacement techniques (15 ppm level), and for collection of fractions (250 μg level) from packed gas chromatographic columns. A range of variation in reproducibility of 5-22% was found for recovery of compounds by the dynamic purging system, and less than 10% variation was encountered for ethyl esters using the equilibrium displacement system. Collection efficiencies for selected ethyl esters from packed gas chromatography column collections were about 80% of theoretical with a variation of less than 10%.