Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play a fundamental role in organismal interactions, facilitating intra- and interspecific communications. Accurate collection and analysis of VOCs are essential for understanding these interactions, but the choice of collection methods and adsorbent materials can introduce biases. This study investigates the variability and recovery yield in VOC collection using various adsorbents and thin-film solid-phase microextraction (TF-SPME). We compared the performance of nine adsorbents and TF-SPME in capturing a standard VOC mixture and VOCs from rosemary plants. Results show significant differences in efficiency among adsorbents, with Porapak