Molecular marker study of extractable organic matter in aerosols from urban areas of China

A wintertime study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 in Beijing: Assessment of energy structure conversion

“…It was found in three Arctic sampling sites 3-4 ring PAHs (Fl, Phe, Flu and Pyr) were predominant, while 5-6 ring PAHs would have been removed before reaching the Arctic [27,29]. Simoneit et al [30] hypothesized that semivolatile PAH (4 ring PAHs) were the predominant components in the distribution of PAH from long distance transport. Hou et al [13] reported using the ratio of 4 ring PAHs (Flu, Pyr, BaA and Chr) to 5-6 ring PAHs (BbF, BkF, BaP, DBA, BghiP and InP) to evaluate the sources of PAH, i.e., the higher the ratio indicated longer distance of transport while the lower ratio implied the PAH might mostly from local emission.…”

Characterisation of solvent extractable organic constituents in atmospheric particulate matter: an overview

“…The dominance of the n-C 27 , n-C 29 and n-C 31 homologs generally observed during summer shifted towards lower carbon numbers in the range n-C 21 -n-C 25 during the colder season. Changes in the modal chain-length of nalkane distributions have been attributed to differences in growing-season temperatures of the source regions (Simoneit et al 1991a). However, Schefuß et al (2003) suggest a large influence of the regional precipitation regime on the chain-length distributions of leaf-wax lipids, in agreement with their biologic functionality as regulators of the plant moisture balance.…”

“…These kind of tracers may include the 17α(H), 21β(H)-hopane series, the 5α(H), 14α(H), 17α(H) and 5α(H),-14β(H), 17β(H)-sterane series, alkylcycloalkanes, the isoprenoids pristane and phytane, as well as the chromatographic unresolved complex mixture (Gogou et al 1996, Simoneit 1984, Simoneit et al 1991a). C 2 -alkylindazole, C 2 -alkylbenzimidazole, mysomine, C 2 -alkylindane 160 C 3 -alkylindazole, C 3 -alkylbenzimidazole, C 3 -alkylindane petroleum residue contamination (Simoneit 1984, Simoneit et al 1991a).…”

“…. Once emitted into the atmosphere, unsaturated fatty acids, which are indicators of recent biogenesis (Simoneit et al 1991a), are likely to be attacked by free radicals, ozone and other oxidants, producing aldehydes, lower weight carboxylic acids and dicarboxylic acids (Rogge et al 1993e). One method that has been used to gauge the age of aerosol is to take the ratio between the concentrations of the saturated C 18 alkanoic acid (C 18:0 ) and the mono-unsaturated C 18 acid (C 18:1 ).…”

“…Chinese urban areas (Bi et al 2002, Cao et al 2003, 2004, Duan et al 2004, Guo et al 2003, 2004, Hou et al 2006, Simoneit et al 1991a, Yang et al 2005a, Wang et al 2002, b, 2007, Wang and Kawamura 2005, Zheng et al 2005, Barcelone (Aceves and Grimalt 1992Grimalt , 1993, London (Kendall et al 2001), Houston, Texas (Fraser et al 2002, Laurent and Allen 2004, Yue and Fraser 2004), Miami, Florida (Lang et al 2002), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Abas et al 2004b, Abas and Simoneit 1996, Toronto (Blanchard et al 2002), Prato, Italy (Cincinelli et al 2003, Launceston, Australia (Keywood et al 2000), Santiago, Chile (Didyk et al 2000, Kavouras et al 1999a, Romero et al 2002, Tsapakis et al 2002 ). However, the Los Angeles metropolitan area represents, incontestably, the one that is favoured by a higher number of studies on organic composition of atmospheric aerosols (Fine et al 2004b, Fraser et al 1997, Hildemann et al 1994, Lough et al 2006, Manchester-Neesvig et al 2003, Rinehart et al 2006, Rogge et al 1993e, 1996, Schauer et al 2002a, Simoneit 1984, Simoneit and Mazurek 1989…”