Refined measurements of Henry’s law constant of terpenes with inert gas stripping coupled with PTR-MS

Henry’s law constant is an essential parameter for the estimation of the environmental prevalence of pollutants. Here, we present two improved methods for measuring Henry’s law constant deploying inert gas stripping (IGS). The methods are targeted at compounds with high gamma coefficients (activity coefficient at infinite dilution) corresponding to large infinite dilution coefficients, such as monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. We deploy a highly sensitive PTR-MS (proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometer) (low limit of detection, wide linear range, split-second time resolution) as detector. We use suited off-equilibrium conditions to extrapolate to equilibrium conditions. The first method is based on the observed linear correlation between gas flow and off-equilibrium experimental Henry’s law constant value. The second method is based on the linear dependence of the gas holdup on volumetric flow. We report HLC constants for six monoterpenes, isoprene and even, as a proof of concept, the sesquiterpene farnesene. The new methods allow for measuring HLC of nearly insoluble compounds at a new accuracy and precision