Concentrations and Source Characteristics of Airborne Carbonyl Compounds Measured Outside Urban Residences

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of ambient air concentrations of 10 carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones) measured in the yards of 87 residences in the city of Elizabeth, NJ, throughout 1999NJ, throughout -2001. Most of these residences were measured twice in different seasons; the sampling duration was 48 hr each time. The authors observed higher concentrations for most of the measured carbonyl compounds on warmer days, reflecting larger contributions of photochemical reactions on warmer days. The estimated contributions of photochemical production varied substantially across the measured carbonyl compounds and could be as high as 60%. Photochemical activity, however, resulted in a net loss for formaldehyde. The authors used stepwise multiple linear regression models to evaluate the impact of traffic sources and meteorological conditions on carbonyl concentrations using the data collected on colder days (with lower photochemical activities). They found that the concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, propionaldehyde, crotonaldehyde, benzaldehyde, glyoxal, and methylglyoxal significantly decreased with increasing distance between a measured residence and one or more major roadways. They also found significant negative associations between concentrations for most of the measured carbonyl compounds and each of the following meteorological parameters: mixing height, wind speed, and precipitation.

Particulate matter inhibits DNA repair and enhances mutagenesis

“…Urban dust 1649a is rich in Ni and Cr content. Although the aldehydescontent in this dust was not analyzed, it has been found that dust collected from urban area of New York City, Los Angeles, and Elizabeth city New Jersey are rich in aldehydes [21,22]. These results raise the possibilities that urban dust can cause an inhibitory effect on DNA repair and this effect may contribute to lung carcinogenesis.…”

“…These findings led us to hypothesize that the reduction of DNA repair capacity is an important mechanism for carcinogens and cocarcinogens to cause mutations and subsequently cancer. Since PM contains transition metals (https://srmors.nist.gov/view_detail.cfm?srm=1649A) and aldehydes [21,22] that we have shown can inhibit NER, it is possible that PM may inhibit DNA repair and this effect may contribute to lung carcinogenesis. In this study, we tested the effect of PM on DNA repair capacity in cultured human cells using in vitro DNA repair synthesis and host cell reactivation (HCR) assays [18].…”

Global budgets of atmospheric glyoxal and methylglyoxal, and implications for formation of secondary organic aerosols

“…Figure 3 visualizes the comparisons. Urban and suburban glyoxal and methylglyoxal concentrations can exceed 1 ppb due to emissions of very short‐lived anthropogenic precursors [ Grosjean et al , 1996, 2002; Ho and Yu , 2002a, 2002b; Volkamer et al , 2005b; Liu et al , 2006; Possanzini et al , 2007], but such local enhancements would not be resolved by our global model. No in situ observations are available to our knowledge for the southern hemisphere or for biomass burning regions.…”

Characterization of Particulate-Phase High Molecular Weight Mono-Carbonyls (C# > 5) and Dicarbonyls in Urban Atmosphere of Xi’an, China

“…and variations of emission sources. In summer, the high level of photochemical activities results in increased levels of some carbonyl compounds (Liu et al, 2006).…”