SPME App Note 13          Page 1 

Screening Packaging 
Materials with 
Automated SPME  
and GC/MS 

 

Varian Application Note

Number 13

 
Zelda Penton 
Varian Chromatography Systems 
 

Key Words: 

SPME, 8200CX, Polymers, Saturn  

 
Solid phase microextraction (SPME) was used to compare various packaging materials to assess their suitability 
for storing and shipping analytical materials. In a previous publication (SPME Application Note #7), polymeric 
beads that had been subjected to various heat treatments were compared; in this note, finished sheets were 
examined. The various materials showed specific repeatable contamination patterns. The technique was very 
simple—approximately 1-cm

2

 of the various samples were placed into 2-mL screw cap vials and the air in the 

vials was sampled at ambient temperature.  
 

 

   0                     5                     10                    15                    20
                              Retention time (min)

C

B

A

Empty vial

2

1

 

 
Figure 1:   Total ion chromatograms of air sampled with a SPME fiber from a blank vial and vials 
containing three different packaging materials. Peaks 1 and 2 were tentatively identified as butylated 
hydroxytoluene and 2,6-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-ethylphenol.   

varian

 

SPME App Note 13     Page 2

 

Instrumentation and Conditions 

Instrument: 

Varian Saturn 2000 GCMS equipped with an automated SPME III system.  

Column:  

30 m x 0.25 mm coated with 0.50-µm Supelcowax 10

TM

, 50°C, 1 minute, 10°C/min to 210°, hold 8 min. 

Carrier gas:  helium, 41 cm/s at 60°C. 

Injector:  

SPI with SPME insert at 210°C, isothermal.  

Ion trap: 

Electron impact ionization mode, mass range 50-250 m/z, ion trap temperature, 200°C. 

Automated 
SPME 
Conditions: 

Fibers (Supelco, Inc.) were coated with 100-µm Polydimethylsiloxane. 
Headspace sampling without agitation in 2-mL vials, 30 minutes absorption, 2 minutes desorption, one 
sampling per vial.  

Samples: 

Three different packaging materials. 

 
Results and Discussion 

The samples were cut into one-cm squares and placed in the vials (one piece per vial). Samples were run in 
duplicate, with an empty vial at the beginning and end of the series. The total ion chromatograms were inspected 
at comparable attenuation. Figure 1 clearly shows the differences in the packaging materials. Note that 
duplicates of the same sample were virtually identical (Figure 2). The method is not quantitative, as one would 
expect the quantities of the various compounds released from the packaging material to be proportional to the 
surface area, but if similar-sized pieces of the materials are placed in the sampling vials, the relative cleanliness 
of the different samples becomes obvious.  

                     

 

 
 

Figure 2:  Total ion chromatograms of two samples of packaging material “B”. 

 
 

 

Conclusions 

SPME is a very simple and effective technique for rapidly evaluating the cleanliness of packaging materials.  
A simple GC-FID system may be used for fingerprinting, or if identification of the contaminants is required, 
GC/MS should be utilized.