Pollution Models May Need More Carbon

Abstract

Urban air pollution models may not accurately reflect levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere, a new research report suggests. VOCs play a role in the formation of ground-level ozone and secondary organic aerosols. Alastair C. Lewis of the University of Leeds, England, and his coworkers there and at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Victoria, Australia, use gas chromatography to analyze urban air samples collected in Melbourne [ Nature , 405 , 778 (2000)]. The authors write that they can isolate more than 550 individual compounds using this method, which employs two chromatographic columns with different properties. Many compounds with more than six carbon atoms, the authors note, can only be isolated by using comprehensive chromatography. The peaks for many of these compounds are hidden in the baseline of conventional single-column chromatography analyses. If you start to look at the baseline in detail with this technique, you can see ...