Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their Derivatives (O-PAHs, N-PAHs, OH-PAHs): Determination in Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) – a Review

Abstract

The aim of this paper is the presentation of the current state-of-the-art about the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their oxidized forms originating from Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) samples. The influence of SPM on health is twofold. SPM, as composed of small particles, is dangerous for the respiratory system. Additionally, SPM is a carrier of many hazardous compounds, particularly PAHs. Recently, several researches focus on the derivatives of PAHs, particularly nitro-, oxy- and hydroxy-PAHs, which are more dangerous than the parent PAHs. Both gas and high-performance liquid chromatography with various detection techniques are used to analyze both PAHs and their oxidized forms. Due to the appearance of these compounds in the environment, at a very low level, an analyte concentration step has to be applied prior to analysis. If GC and HPLC techniques are chiefly used as analytical tools for these analyses, the spectrum of analyte concentration procedures is very broad. Many analyte concentration techniques are proposed: from classic liquid-solid extractions, including Soxhlet technique, pressurized liquid extraction (ASE) or microwave oven (MWE) and sonic supported extraction to SPE techniques applications. However, one should remember that PAH determination methods are tools for solving the main problem, i.e., the evaluation the health hazard connected to the presence of SPM in air. Thus, the main drawback of several papers found in this review, i.e., the lack of information concerning limit of detection (LOD) of these methods makes their applicability very limited.

Computational Studies on the Reactivity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

“…A for all systems in the particle phase, f 0 A , one of three forms of the condensed Fukui function as shown in Eqs. (5)(6)(7), is chosen to predict the active sites for the OH-radical addition reaction in the gas phase. The reaction active sites of eight PAHs predicted with f 0 A are marked with red circles and are shown in Figure 3.…”

“…The analysis of TPPs present in complex environmental matrices and mixtures is laborious, time-consuming and challenging because of their low concentrations in the atmosphere. [6] PAHs initially exist in gaseous form, some of which coalesce into the particle phase or are adsorbed onto the particle phase. At ambient temperature, two-and three-ring PAHs primarily exist in the gas phase; four-and five-ring PAHs occur in both the gas and particle phases; and PAHs containing six or more rings principally adsorb onto particles.…”

Development of Quantitative Chemical Ionization Using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry and Gas Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Ambient Nitro- and Oxy-PAHs and Its Applications

“…Several analytical methods have been employed for the determination of PAH derivatives [ 20 ]. In the case of NPAH measurements, gas chromatography (GC) combined with various detection methods such as electron capture detection [ 21 , 22 ], nitrogen selective detection [ 23 , 24 ], reductive electro-chemical detection [ 25 , 26 ], and negative and positive chemical ionization (NCI and PCI) mass spectrometry (MS) have been reported [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”

Determination of subpicogram levels of airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons for personal exposure monitoring assessment

“…The sensitivity of quadrupole GC–MS and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques is suitable for high exposure PAH concentrations, but large sample volumes and sampling times are necessary to be able to detect the ambient air levels between few pg/m 3 and several ng/m 3 . This often results in limits of quantification that are too high to be suitable for personal exposure monitoring of PAHs, especially the particle bounded high molecular compounds (Cherry et al, 2021 ; Maitre et al, 2018 ; Navarro et al, 2017 ; Nowakowski et al, 2022 ).…”