Not All Vials Are Created Equally
Posted on November 28th, 2019

How many vials do you use in a year? Do you give much thought to the quality? Or do you just go for the cheapest? Does it really matter? Would you like to – or do you even – want to know?!
Unfortunately, it is rather difficult to tell – other than randomly generated, flaky data – letting you know what you have always known…not all vials are created equally! And this is especially true for headspace analysis, where consistent partitioning is critical to data quality.
Here at Anatune, we put our SIFT-MS to good use and checked some vials for you, and you can see the difference a poorly fitting vial cap can have. Each vial had 50 μL of toluene added to it, it was capped with a septum containing one needle piercing, placed in a sealed jar and the SIFT-MS got to work. The jar was sampled twice, immediately after sealing and then after a further five minutes of equilibration.
I know which one I would rather use! Interestingly, needle piercing can also have a detrimental effect on the sealing properties – better make sure you use the correct, non-coring needle option!
(Identities have not been revealed, to protect the innocent – and guilty).