The Determination of Formaldehyde using Thermal Desorption – Ion Mobility Spectrometry 2001-01-2197

The need has recently arisen for the monitoring of formaldehyde levels during manned space flights. A volatile organics analyser (VOA) will be currently used to monitor the air directly for other targeted analytes. This consists of a thermal desorption gas chromatography ion mobility spectrometer. Formaldehyde can not be measured directly using this method as it needs to be derivatised first to provide a more stable compound. A method previously developed for the analysis of formaldehyde in air using on trap derivatisation followed by thermal desorption GC-MS was evaluated at each stage to determine whether the two methods were compatible.