Background

The 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) issued by US Environmental protection agency are a major focus in atmosphere in previous studies. Many more PAH congeners or their substitutes could be produced during combustion or thermal industrial processes and released into the atmosphere. However, a full screening of various organic pollutants in air surrounding important industrial sources has not been conducted. Identifying and characterizing organic pollutants in air is essential for accurate risk assessment. This study conducted non-target screening of organic pollutants and simultaneous target analysis of emerging contaminants including 8 polychlorinated naphthalenes and 30 higher cyclic halogenated PAHs by high-resolution gas chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/Q-TOF-MS) and applied to the air samples collected surrounding metallurgical plants. Emerging organic chemicals of high toxicity in air were identified.

Results

We identified and characterized 187 organic chemicals categorized as PAHs, alkylated polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), heterocyclic PACs, and aliphatic hydrocarbons in atmosphere around industrial sources. Some of these identified chemicals, such as phthalic acid esters, dimethylbenz[a]anthracene, and hydroquinone with alkane substituents are of potential high toxicities and have not been the focus of previous studies of airborne contaminants. Moreover, hydroquinone with alkane substituents may be critical intermediates and precursors of an emerging contaminant—environmentally persistent free radicals. Thus, the presence of those identified highly toxic chemicals in the air merits attention. Moreover, 38 chlorinated and brominated PAHs as target compounds were accurately quantitated by using isotopic dilution method by application of GC/Q-TOF-MS, and the findings were similar to those of high-resolution magnetic mass spectrometry.

Conclusion

In this study, both non-target screening of organic pollutants and target analysis of halogenated PAHs in air were achieved by GC/Q-TOF-MS. The method could be of significance for simultaneous analysis of those trace pollutants containing multiple congeners. Specific pollutants of potential high toxicity in atmosphere around industrial sources were identified. Those knowledge could be helpful for comprehensively recognizing the organic contaminants in air surrounding metallurgical plants and better understanding their potential health risks.

中文翻译：

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高分辨率GC / Q-TOF-MS对冶金厂周围大气中的有机污染物进行非目标筛选和卤代多环芳烃的目标分析

背景

美国环境保护局发布的16种优先级多环芳烃（PAH）是以往研究中大气中的主要焦点。在燃烧或热工业过程中，可能会生产出更多的PAH同源物或其代用品，并释放到大气中。但是，尚未对重要工业来源周围空气中的各种有机污染物进行全面筛查。鉴定和表征空气​​中的有机污染物对于准确的风险评估至关重要。这项研究通过高分辨率气相色谱四极杆飞行时间质谱（GC / Q-TOF-MS）对有机污染物进行了非目标筛查，并对新兴污染物（包括8种多氯萘和30种高级环状卤代PAHs）进行了同时目标分析。并应用于收集冶金厂周围的空气样品。鉴定了在空气中具有高毒性的新兴有机化学品。

结果

我们在工业来源周围的大气中识别并分类了187种有机化学物质，分为PAHs，烷基化多环芳族化合物（PACs），杂环PAC和脂族烃。这些已确定的化学物质中的一些，例如邻苯二甲酸酯，二甲基苯并[a]蒽和带有烷烃取代基的对苯二酚具有潜在的高毒性，并且不是以前空气传播污染物研究的重点。此外，带有烷烃取代基的对苯二酚可能是新兴污染物（环境持久性自由基）的关键中间体和前体。因此，那些在空气中识别出剧毒化学品的存在值得关注。此外，

结论

在这项研究中，通过GC / Q-TOF-MS可以实现非目标性有机污染物筛查和空气中卤代PAHs的目标分析。该方法对于同时分析含有多种同类物的痕量污染物可能具有重要意义。确定了工业来源周围大气中潜在的高毒性特定污染物。这些知识可能有助于全面识别冶金厂周围空气中的有机污染物，并更好地了解其潜在的健康风险。