I have purchased a highly volatile compound known as geosmin. It was contained in a glass ampule. Geosmin was dissolved in dichloromethane (DCM). I made several aliquots of 30Ul in a 1.5ml micro-centrifuge tips, put the lid and covered the top properly by parafilm sheet and stored at 4oC. But, after 3-5 days, when i required this compound for the reaction set-up, I found out that the MCTs are empty. Can anyone suggest me how to store such highly volatile compounds?
Hi there,
Is geosmin actually that volatile or is it just the matter of the solvent (DCM)? I would suggest to store at lower temperature (-20°C or even -80°C) or to change solvent for a less volatile one.
You should do a number of things, as your solvent has a very low boiling point & high vapor pressure... (1) Keep vial cool (0 deg C) and then IMMEDIATELY after opening and extracting sample(s) cover vial or sample container with aluminum foil (not parafilm) as soon as you extracted sample and then (2) keep the foil in place with parafilm. (3) over-pack in a vapor-tight vial (as small as possible) choosing a vial with an aluminum foil-backed cap or other vapor-impermiable barrier (4) store at a temp as low as possible as per Dominique Liger, (5) use small forceps to remove inner vial for retrieval (that is, don't turn upside down). All the best
As previously stated, geosmin itself is not very volatile; however, the DCM solvent that you have in does evaporate quickly. You may be able to resolute the geosmin by washing the MCTs in very high purity solvent (95-99% purity), even after the DCM has evaporated from your samples. In the future, I would store any sample that contains DCM or Hexane using a -20°C or even -80°C freezer (as stated above). Otherwise you may also try storage or dilution in mineral oil, as we often use that for odor delivery (EAG or SSR) or for behavioral testing with geosmin when testing our insects.
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