Abstract
The feasibility of utilizing the solid phase micro extraction (SPME) technique for the quantitative analysis of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs)from live tree species in an enclosure is undertaken. Biogenic VOCs are important to analyze due to their suspected involvement in the chemistry of the atmosphere. The construction of a capillary diffusion system (CDS) suitable for the generation of biogenic VOC standards was completed in order to evaluate the SPME sampling technique. Particular emphasis was given to sesquiterpene compounds (SQTs) which are strongly believed to play a role in atmospheric chemistry with regards to their possible involvement in the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). The SPME technique was found to be a suitable sampling technique lending itself particularly well to the analysis of SQTs. The effects of humidity, flow, and concentration were scrutinized with results indicating excellent reproducibility and sensitivity in the -100 ppt range. Live plant species were also analyzed using enclosure experiments in order to demonstrate the applicability of this technique to real-world samples. A total of three different SQTs were detected in two different species of pine tree; gray pine and ponderosa pine. Identified SQTs were afarnesene, fi-farnesene, and bergamotene and were found with average emissions in the range of 22 - 1668 ng C g- dw hr . Emission rates were found to have a dependency on both temperature and light.