AN INVESTIGATION OF SAMPLING METHODS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF INSECT CUTICULAR HYDROCARBONS

Several sampling methods were examined to determine their efficiency at recovering the cuticular hydrocarbons, including solvent washing, extraction, and dynamic headspace analysis. Hexane proved to be an acceptable solvent for obtaining a representative hydrocarbon sample, but is not a good solvent for quantitative recoveries, unless special measures are taken. This appears to be as a result of both limitations in solubility and kinetic problems. Dynamic headspace analysis using a pyroprobe for thermal desorption of the hydrocarbons proved to be a rapid and quantitative sampling method.