Complex inter-organismal communication among plants, insects, and microbes in natural and agricultural ecological systems is typically governed by emitted and perceived semiochemicals. To understand and ultimately utilize the role of volatile semiochemicals in these interactions, headspace volatiles are routinely collected and analyzed. Numerous collection systems are available (e.g., static or dynamic; adsorption or absorption) where the choice of technique should be dependent upon the plant, insect, or microbial ecological system studied, the information sought, and the limitations of each method. Within these constraints, it remains necessary that each method detects and provides the accurate in situ, or in vitro, volatile profile of the studied system. Herein, we analyzed and compared the pros and cons of three solventless, thermal desorption systems (SPME, Tenax/cold trap, SPDE) using a synthetic standard blend of compounds mimicking a simple natural blend (benzaldehyde, b-caryophyllene, (Z)-3-hexenol, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, and limonene). Direct splitless injection and Super Q collections of the standard blend were used as controls. The results indicated that related qualitative, as well as quantitative differences, could be correlated with adsorbent sampling capacity and structural bias. The results for Tenax/cold trap and SPDE also were affected by sampled headspace volumes. All solventless techniques exhibited high analytical reproducibility, with SPME and SPDE providing ease of use, low cost, and minimal instrument modifications. The more complex Tenax/cold trap technique provided higher collection efficiency. Using these results, we provide guidance for technique selection for chemical communication applications

自然和农业生态系统中植物、昆虫和微生物之间复杂的生物间交流通常由排放和感知的化学信息素控制。为了理解并最终利用挥发性化学信息素在这些相互作用中的作用，常规收集和分析顶空挥发物。许多收集系统可用（例如，静态或动态；吸附或吸收），其中技术的选择应取决于所研究的植物、昆虫或微生物生态系统、所寻求的信息以及每种方法的局限性。在这些限制范围内，每种方法仍然有必要检测并提供所研究系统的准确原位或体外挥发性特征。在此，我们分析比较了三种无溶剂的优缺点，Z )-3-己烯醇、6-甲基-5-庚烯-2-酮和柠檬烯)。标准混合物的直接不分流进样和 Super Q 集合用作对照。结果表明，相关的定性和定量差异可能与吸附剂取样能力和结构偏差有关。Tenax/冷阱和 SPDE 的结果也受采样顶空体积的影响。所有无溶剂技术都表现出很高的分析重现性，SPME 和 SPDE 提供了易用性、低成本和最少的仪器修改。更复杂的 Tenax/冷阱技术提供了更高的收集效率。使用这些结果，我们为化学通信应用的技术选择提供指导