With the syringe only concept of the PAL COMBI-xt a headspace technology has been introduced to eliminate the headaches commonly associated with conventional autosamplers. The robotic vial processing operation allows sample analysis in a straightforward and systematic way. Sample vials are transported into the heated six position incubator for preconditioning. After reaching the equilibration, a heated gas-tight syringe is moved over the incubator and the headspace sample is withdrawn. After sample injection the hot syringe is automatically cleaned by purging with inert gas. No complicated error prone operations e.g. vial pressurization, valve switching, loop filling or heated transfer lines are involved. For maximum throughput, the intelligent controlled vial transfer into the incubator oven ensures that a sample is always ready to be injected when the previous run is completed.