The A2MA instrument has been developed for the automated in situ determination of airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using programmed temperature vaporisation injection from a sorbent tube trap. A sorbent tube placed as an injection port liner can be repeatedly used to collect samples of air, with the trapped analytes being subsequently desorbed onto a capillary gas chromatography (GC) column without use of intermediate cryogenic refocussing.

The automation of sample collection and the elimination of the intermediate refocussing step, reduces much of the necessary on-site maintenance required for continuous monitoring, and allows in situ analysis in locations where previously this was not possible.