Development of simultaneous analytical methods for hazardous chemicals and their applications to environmental monitoring

Abstract

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC/MS) method has bean developed for the simultaneous determination of hazardous chemicals. First, a monitoring system of 90 pesticides and 10 transformation products in river water was established; the pesticides in the dissolved phase were extracted with the solid phase and those in the suspended phase were extracted ultrasonically. Second, an optimum analytical conditions of headspace method were examined to the determination of 53 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in river water and sediment. Last, an ultrasonic extraction method using ethanol-cyclohexane (1 : 3) was evaluated for the determination of seven polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and eight n-alkans in airborne particulate matter.These methods were applied to monitoring the target compounds in Niigata Prefecture. First, in monitoring pesticides in Shinano River, 53 compounds were detected, and the distribution ratios of the pesticides from dissolved phases to the suspended phase seem to depend on the concentrations and properties of the compounds. Second, VOCs were determined for 29 compounds from 16 rivers, and the number of detected VOCs was larger in the winter than in the summer. Last, the concentration levels of PAHs and n-alkanes in airborne particulate matter were evaluated, and anthropogenic sources, including traffic, were the major contributions to the particulates.The results of this study will be available for the monitoring and control of hazardous chemicals suspected to damage human health and ecosystems.