Issue 11, 2011

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, a valuable technique for screening and semiquantitation of different chemical compounds in ultrafine 30 nm and 50 nm aerosol particles

Abstract

Comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOF-MS) was used for screening and semiquantitation of semivolatile organic compounds in aerosol particles. As the volatility was a prerequisite parameter for the analysis, some compounds were transformed viaderivatization such as silylation into more volatile ones. The identification of the analytes was made by comparing the GC retention indices and the TOF mass spectra with the NIST and the Golm metabolome database reference libraries. The data treatment was simplified by exploiting an additional classification of the identified compounds, namely the main functional group or specific element present in the molecule leading to different groups of compounds. This methodology was applied to identify compounds in 30 ± 4 nm, 50 ± 5 nm and total suspended particles (TSP) collected during spring and autumn of 2009 and summer of 2010 at the Station for Measuring Forest Ecosystem Atmosphere Relations (SMEAR II) at Hyytiälä (Finland). The number of identified compounds was higher than 400, which were the most relevant compounds present in the samples, in terms of concentrations. The analysis of aerosol particles of different sizes, collected simultaneously, revealed that the number of compounds increased with the particle size whereas the normalized response factor decreased in most of the cases, aldehydes being an exception. This decrease could be associated with the formation or aggregation of new compounds onto the particles when they grow in the atmosphere.

Graphical abstract: Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, a valuable technique for screening and semiquantitation of different chemical compounds in ultrafine 30 nm and 50 nm aerosol particles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Jun 2011
Accepted
25 Aug 2011
First published
23 Sep 2011

J. Environ. Monit., 2011,13, 2994-3003

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, a valuable technique for screening and semiquantitation of different chemical compounds in ultrafine 30 nm and 50 nm aerosol particles

J. Ruiz-Jiménez, J. Parshintsev, T. Laitinen, K. Hartonen, M. Riekkola, T. Petäjä and M. Kulmala, J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2994 DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10486A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements