Direct gas
chromatographic (GC) analysis of thermally labile
N-carbamates is studied by using fast GC with cold on-column
injection. With the greatly reduced injection temperature, short
column lengths, high flow rate, and fast temperature-programming
rate, the exposure of carbamates to high temperature is reduced and
degradation can be avoided. Nine N-carbamates in EPA Method 531
are eluted without thermal decomposition. The relative standard
deviation percentage for peak areas average 1.9% for all of the
carbamates analyzed. A conventional GC instrument is employed to
simplify the experiments. GC–mass spectrometry is used to monitor
the decomposition peaks.