« Previous AbstractExhaled human breath measurement method for assessing exposure to halogenated volatile organic compounds    Next AbstractClinical breath analysis: discriminating between human endogenous compounds and exogenous (environmental) chemical confounders »

J Chromatogr A

Title:		Assaying particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from archived PM2.5 filters
Author(s):		Pleil JD; Vette AF; Rappaport SM;
Address:		"Methods Development and Application Branch, HEASD/NERL/ORD, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA"
Journal Title:		J Chromatogr A
Year:		2004
Volume:		1033
Issue:		1
Page Number:		9 - 17
DOI:		10.1016/j.chroma.2003.12.074
ISSN/ISBN:		0021-9673 (Print) 0021-9673 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Airborne particulate matter contains numerous organic species, including several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are known or suspected carcinogens. Existing methods for measuring airborne PAHs are complex and costly, primarily because they are designed to collect both gas-phase and particle-phase PAH constituents. Here, we report an assay for measuring particle-bound PAHs in archived filters from the network of U.S. monitoring stations for particles less than 2.5 microm in diameter (PM2.5), without the need for deploying specialized samplers. PAHs are extracted from Teflon filters with dichloromethane, concentrated, and measured at trace levels using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Although PAHs with 3-6 aromatic rings can be assayed, results are only unambiguously accurate for compounds with 5- or 6-rings, due to variable vaporization losses of the more volatile 3- and 4-ring compounds during sampling and/or storage. The method was evaluated for sensitivity, recovery, precision, and agreement of paired air samples, using PM2.5 samplers locally in Chapel Hill, NC. Additionally, three sets of archived samples were analyzed from a study of PM2.5 in the Czech Republic. Levels of some 4-ring and all 5- and 6-ring PAHs in both the local and Czech samples were consistent with published results from investigations employing PAH-specific air samplers. This work strongly suggests that assessment of particle-bound 5- and 6-ring PAHs from archived PM2.5 filters is quantitatively robust. The assay may also be useful for selected 4-ring compounds, notably chrysene and benzo(a)anthracene, if PM2.5 filters are stored under refrigeration"
Keywords:		Filtration/*instrumentation Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Polycyclic Compounds/*analysis Reproducibility of Results Sensitivity and Specificity;
Notes:		"MedlinePleil, Joachim D Vette, Alan F Rappaport, Stephen M eng P42ES05948/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. Netherlands 2004/04/10 J Chromatogr A. 2004 Apr 9; 1033(1):9-17. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2003.12.074"