Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the family of organic contaminations, have been shown to have negative effects on human health. However, until now, the comprehension on occurrence, distribution, and risk assessment of human exposure to PAHs has been limited in Vietnam. In this work, a capillary gas chromatography coupled with electron impact ionization tandem mass spectrometry (GC-EI-MS/MS) has been introduced for analysis of 16 PAHs in some particulate matter samples. PAHs have been separated on the TG 5 ms capillary gas chromatographic column and detected by tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode. The PAHs in the particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10) samples were extracted by ultrasonic-assisted liquid extraction and cleaned up by an acidic silica gel solid phase extraction. The linearity range of all analyzed PAHs was from 5 to 2000 ng mL−1 with R2 ≥0.9990. Limit of detection (LOD) of PAHs in particulate matter sample was from 0.001 ng m−3 (Br-Naph) to 0.276 ng m−3 (Fln). The recovery of PAHs was investigated by international proficiency testing samples. The recoveries of PAHs in proficiency testing sample ranged from 79.3% (Chr) to 109.8% (IcdP). The in-house validated GC-EI-MS/MS method was then applied to analysis of some particulate matter samples that were collected in the Hanoi areas. The total concentrations of PAHs in several brands of samples collected from Hanoi were found in the range of 226.3 ng m−3–706.43 ng m−3. Among the studied compounds, naphthalene was found at high frequency and ranged from 106.5 ng m−3 to 631.1 ng m−3. The main distribution of the PAHs in particulate matter samples was two-ring and three-ring compounds.
Highlights
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a family of organic pollutants containing two or more fused aromatic rings [1,2,3,4]. e major (90%) PAHs are byproducts of incomplete combustion [5] and man-made activities such as traffic activities, cooking, and fossil fuel burning [6].erefore, PAHs can leach out into the environment over time and migrate to human body through three pathways such as air inhalation, dermal contact, and dietary intake. e deleterious health effects of PAH exposure to human body have been reported in several previous studies in the world
A total ion chromatogram (TIC) of PAHs at 2 μg mL−1 standard solution is demonstrated in Figure 2. e temperature program, a critical factor in GG separation, could be optimized in order to achive the highest selectivity. erefore, several different temperature programs were tested and the final temperature program was chosen as aforementioned
A green extraction in combination with GC-EI-MS/MS method was successfully developed for analysis of 16 priority PAHs in particulate matter fractions (PM 10 and PM 2.5) collected from Hanoi, Vietnam
Summary
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a family of organic pollutants containing two or more fused aromatic rings [1,2,3,4]. e major (90%) PAHs are byproducts of incomplete combustion [5] and man-made activities such as traffic activities, cooking, and fossil fuel burning [6].erefore, PAHs can leach out into the environment over time and migrate to human body through three pathways such as air inhalation, dermal contact, and dietary intake. e deleterious health effects of PAH exposure to human body have been reported in several previous studies in the world. E deleterious health effects of PAH exposure to human body have been reported in several previous studies in the world. Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry (US-EPA) has introduced 16 PAHs including naphthalene (Naph), acenaphthylene (Acy), acenaphthene (Ace), fluorene (Fln), phenanthrene (Phe), anthracene (Ant), pyrene (Pyr), benzo[a]anthracene (BaA), chrysene (Chr), benzo[b] fluoranthene (BbF), fluoranthene (Fluo), benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), indeno [1,2,3-cd] pyrene (IcdP), dibenzo[a,h]anthracene (DahA), and benzo [g,h,i]perylene (BghiP) on the list of priority organic pollutants to be removed [4, 10, 11]. Seven PAHs (BaP, BaA, BbF, BkF, Chr, IcdP, DahA) were given in the list of mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds by IARC [12]. Ese studies have shown that the PAHs pollution has been associated with urbanization and industrialization, especially fossil fuel-based transportation activities. PAHs are nonpolar compounds (chemical structures of PAHs are shown in Figure S1, Supplementary Information) and could be bioaccumulated in the animals and enter the human body through a food chain
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