How to detect biodegraded plastic's compounds in media?

[navid taghavi]

Hi everyone,
I would like to understand what kind of compounds may exist due to the microbial biodegradation of plastics. My idea was to identify the compounds first by HPLC and then GC-MS to cover both long chain(non-volatile) and small (volatile) compounds, respectively.
As I do not know what kind of compounds may exist in the media, I do not know what column, solvent and detector I should use.
I was thinking about GPC or SEC, but these two methods only separate the molecules based on size and do not give me any information about the type of compounds. If I am not mistaken.
Any guidance for me.

Many Thanks.

[JMB]

So that you do not have to re-invent the wheel, your first step should be a literature search of the topic.
Then go from there.

JMB