Analytical Sciences

Rapid Quantification of N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone in Polymer Matrices by Thermal Desorption-GC/MS

Young-Min KIM,*1,*2 Jae Woo KIM,*3,*4 Hye Mi MOON,*4 Min-Jin LEE,*4,*5 Akihiko HOSAKA,*2 Atsushi WATANABE,*2 Norio TERAMAE,*2,*6 Young-Kwon PARK,*5 and Seung-Woon MYUNG*3

*1 Department of Environmental Sciences and Biotechnology, Hallym University, Gangwon 24252, Republic of Korea
*2 Frontier Laboratories Ltd., Fukushima 963-8862, Japan
*3 Department of Chemistry, Kyonggi University, Gyeonggi 16227, Republic of Korea
*4 KOTITI Testing & Research Institute, Gyeonggi 13202, Republic of Korea
*5 School of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea
*6 Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan

Analysis of a residual solvent in polymeric materials has become an important issue due to the increased regulations and standards for its use. N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is a solvent widely used in many industries and restricted as one of the chemicals under EU REACH regulations due to its potential harmful effects. In this study, thermal desorption–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) is applied for the quantitative analysis of NMP with the use of a polymer-coated sample cup. By using the polymer-coated sample cup, the vaporization of NMP was prevented during waiting time before TD-GC/MS analysis. The calibration curve for the TD method showed good linearity (correlation coefficient, r² = 0.9998) and precision values (below 5.3% RSD). NMP recovery rates in different polymer matrices (PS, PMMA and PVC) were in the range of 98.8 to 106.6% with RSD values below 5.0%. The quantification result (600 mg NMP/kg PVC) for the blind NMP carrying sample in a PVC matrix by TD-GC/MS was higher than that (532 mg NMP/kg PVC) by solvent extraction-GC/MS method.

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