Objective To establish a method for the simultaneous determination of 10 kinds of volatile organic compounds in workplace air by gas chromatography.

Methods Air samples were adsorbed by active carbon and desorbed by carbon bisulfide, followed by temperature programmed separation using Elite-XLB column, and finally quantified with flame ionization detector.

Results The sampling efficiencies of benzene, toluene, xylene, cyclohexane, normal heptane, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, butanone, tetrahydrofuran, and methyl methacrylate were all greater than 90%, and the samples could be stored at room temperature for 5 days. The detection limits were 0.110 0, 0.660 0, 0.120 0, 0.580 0, 0.008 9, 0.990 0, 0.006 0, 0.055 0, 0.630 0, and 0.300 0 mg/L, respectively, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.999 0 within the corresponding concentration range of 10-800 mg/L. The average recoveries of standard addition ranged between 86.7% and 102.4%, and the relative standard deviations were between 1.6% and 5.9%.

Conclusion This simple method is highly efficient, accurate, and sensitive, which is applicable to the simultaneous determination of 10 kinds of volatile organic compounds in the air of workplace.