SPME analysis of potential attractants for palm weevils

Abstract

Solid-phase microextraction was applied for the analysis ora mixture of potential attractants for palm weevils, constituted by seven organic compounds. Various fibers, coated with different sorbent phases, were used in this study and the best results were obtained with the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/divinylbenzene (DVB) and the Carboxen/PDMS fibers. A waiting time of 5 min before sampling was adequate for sample homogenisation and a sampling time of 30 min was used to obtain good extraction efficiencies. A complete desorption of the analytes into the injection port of the gas chromatograph was achieved with an injection time of 1 min. The detection limit of the method ranged from 0.29 to 156 ng/ml for the different components of the mixture, with a lower detection limit for the compounds with higher affinity for the fiber coating. This method was used in the analysis of volatiles released from a diffuser filled with the attractant mixture.