Occurrence of Nitro-PAH in the Atmosphere in a Rural Area

By means of gas chromatography with nitrogen sensitive detection and negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometric detection 7 mononitro-PAH, 9-nitroanthracene, x-nitro-4,5-methylene-phenanthrene, 3-nitrofluoranthene, 1- and 2-nitropyrene, 10-nitrobenz(a)anthracene and 6-nitrobenzo-(a)pyrene have been identied in samples of airborne particulate matter.

Furthermore, 8-nitrofluoranthene has been tentatively identified. The amounts of mononitro-PAH are one to two orders of magnitude lower than the most common carcinogenic PAH, as e.g. benzo(a)pyrene. Filter effects have been studied, 9-nitroanthracene can be transformed during sampling at low atmospheric concentrations of NO2 and photochemical oxidants to 9,10-dinitroanthracene and 10-nitroanthrone.