Non-target and suspect characterisation of organic contaminants in Arctic air, Part II: Application of a new tool for identification and prioritisation of chemicals of emerging Arctic concern in air

Abstract

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The Norwegian Arctic possess a unique environment for the detection of new potential chemicals of emerging Arctic concern (CEACs) due to remoteness, sparsely populated and the low number of local contamination sources. Hence, a contaminant present in Arctic air is still considered a priority indication for its environmental stability and environmental mobility. Today, legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and related conventional environmental pollutants are already well-studied since their identification as Arctic pollutants in the 1980s. Many of them are implemented and reported in various national and international monitoring activities including the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP). These standard monitoring schemes, however, are based on compound specific quantitative analytical methods. Under such conditions, the possibility for identification of hitherto unidentified contaminants is limited and randomly, at the best. Today, new and advanced technological developments allow a broader, unspecific analytical approach as either targeted multi-component analysis or suspect and non-target screening strategies. In order to facilitate such a wide range of compounds, a wide-scope sample clean-up method for high-volume air samples, based on a combination of adsorbents was applied, followed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography separation and low-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometric detection (GC×GC-LRMS). During the here reported study, simultaneous non-target and suspect screening were applied. The detection of over 700 compounds of interest in the particle phase and over 1200 compounds in the gaseous phase is reported. Of those, 62 compounds were confirmed with reference standards and 90 compounds with a probable structure (based upon mass spectrometric interpretation and library spectrum comparison). These included compounds already detected in Arctic matrices and compounds not detected previously (see also Figure 1). In addition, 241 compounds were assigned tentative structure or compound class. Hitherto unknown halogenated compounds, which are not listed in the used mass spectral libraries, were also detected and partly identified.</p>

Non-target and suspect characterisation of organic contaminants in ambient air, Part I: Combining a novel sample clean-up method with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

“…It shows a limitation of modelling calculations for LRATP. The results of this study can be compared with data from the Zeppelin observatory on Svalbard (Arctic background air samples) reported earlier (Röhler et al, 2020). In brief, 16 of 17 L1 compounds without LRATP (all compounds in Table 5, except 3,6-Dimethylphenanthrene) from the Birkenes dataset were also confirmed in the Arctic air samples, further confirming LRATP of these compounds.…”

“…A short summary about data alignment of used suspect lists and findings in our samples can be found in the SI. Overall, 39 compounds, identified as L0, L1 or L2, were also detected in high volume air samples from the Zeppelin station (Ny-Ålesund) in Svalbard, using the same analytical approach as in this study (Röhler et al, 2020). Table S7).…”

“…The combination of columns applied in this study (medium-polar combined with non-polar) had an improved matrix separation from compounds of interest, compared to the most common combination (non-polar combined with medium-polar). However, as stated by Röhler et al (2020), this column combination is not suitable to use with any available retention indices for further identification confidence. The most comprehensive databases are available for non-polar (5 % phenyl) columns, whereas this study was using a medium-polar column.…”

Climate change influence on the levels and trends of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and chemicals of emerging Arctic concern (CEACs) in the Arctic physical environment – a review

“…(2020) 26 developed a sample clean-up and analytical method to screen air samples for new chemicals of concern in Arctic air. In air collected from the Zeppelin station on Svalbard (Fig.…”