Gas-liquid chromatographic headspace technique for determination of vinyl chloride in corn oil and three food-simulating solvents.

A gas-liquid chromatographic headspace technique for the determination of vinyl chloride (VC) in corn oil, 50% ethanol, 3% acetic acid, and n-heptane is described. These food-simulating solvents and the corn oil are placed in septum-sealed bottles and heated to 90 degrees C, and aliquots of headspace vapor are injected into a gas-liquid chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector. VC may be quantitated at concentrations of 1 ppb or less. This technique was used to measure the migration of VC into corn oil and 50% ethanol from 2 unplasticized polyvinyl chloride sheets containing 0.28 and 0.44 ppm residual monomer.