Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Mini-disk Extraction

A novel sampling method of the headspace poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) mini-disk extraction (HS-PDE) was developed, optimized, validated and applied for the GC/MS analysis of spices flavors. A prototype PDMS mini-disk (8 mm outer diameter, 0.157 mm thickness, 9.4 mg weight) has been designed and fabricated as a sorption device. The technique uses a small PDMS mini-disk and very small volume of organic solvent and less sample size than the solvent extraction. This new HS-PDE method is very simple to use, inexpensive, rapid, requires less labor. Linearities of calibration curves for ${\alpha}$-pinene, ${\beta}$-pinene, limonene and ${\gamma}$-terpinene by HS-PDE combined with GC/MS were excellent having $r^2$ values greater than 0.99 at the dynamic range of 6.06~3500 ng/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) showed very low values. This method exhibited good precision and accuracy. The overall extraction efficiency of this method was evaluated by using partition coefficients ($K_p$) and concentration factors (CF) for several characteristic components from nutmeg and mace. Partition coefficients were in the range from $2.04{\times}10^4$ to $4.42{\times}10^5$, while CF values were 0.88-15.03. HS-PDE was applied successfully for the analysis of flavors compositions from nutmeg, mace and cumin. The HS-PDE method is a very promising sampling technique for the characterization of volatile flavors.