Benzene in Beverages using Purge Trap GCMS. Rachael Huber and Lia DiBiase.  2006.

In this experiment various commercial beverages were tested for benzene in nanograms per 25mL sample. Through a method using purge and trap coupled with GC/MS benzene was able to be detected. A series of eight standards were used to form a calibration curve of abundance, versus know concentration of the ions 51m/z, 77m/z, and 78 m/z, using the scan mode. The samples tested were Aquafina Flavor Splash Citric Blend, Fruit2O Strawberry Flavored Water and Safeway Select Diet Orange Soda. Each sample was put though the method two times using the SIM mode, Searching only for 51m/z, 77m/z, and 78 m/z, and one diet orange sample was run after being exposed to UV light for thirty minutes. In the scan mode the MS looks at each ion for 6ms, in the SIM mode it looks at each ion for 100ms. To correct for the difference between the samples and the calibration curve, sample concentration was divided by 16.6. The concentration of the Aquafina was 0.02(± 0.1)ng, The concentration of Fruit2O was 0.49(± 0.02)ng, and the concentration of diet orange soda was 0.24(± 0.48)ng and 0.03429ng(UV). The limit of quantitation was found to be 0.0867ng, from the lowest standard. This method was developed after learning about the FDA study on the concentration of benzene a variety of other beverages.