Environmental samples, characterization

Assists in identifying appropriate analytical laboratories to evaluate environmental samples (e.g., soil, water, sludge, waste, air) for characterizing hazards at a site. The system factors type of sample, suspected pollutants, user s needs for on-site evaluation, and laboratories locations, capabilities, and ( ualiricalions. 

Recent Uses of Solid-Surface Luminescence Analysis in Environmental Analysis. Vo-Dinh and coworkers have shown very effectively how solid-surface luminescence techniques can be used for environmentally important samples (17-22). RTF has been used for the screening of ambient air particulate samples (17,18). In addition, RTF has been employed in conjunction with a ranking index to characterize polynuclear aromatic pollutants in environmental samples (19). A unique application of RTF reported recently is a personal dosimeter badge based on molecular diffusion and direct detection by RTF of polynuclear aromatic pollutants (20). The dosimeter is a pen-size device that does not require sample extraction prior to analysis. 

Tillitt, D.E., J.P. Giesy, and G.T. Ankley. 1991. Characterization of the H4IIE rat hepatoma cell bioassay as a tool for assessing toxic potency of planar halogenated hydrocarbons in environmental samples. Environ. Sci. Technol. 25 87-92. 

Dynamic SIMS is used for depth profile analysis of mainly inorganic samples. The objective is to measure the distribution of a certain compound as a function of depth. At best the resolution in this direction is < 1 nm, that is, considerably better than the lateral resolution. Depth profiling of semiconductors is used, for example, to monitor trace level elements or to measure the sharpness of the interface between two layers of different composition. For glass it is of interest to investigate slow processes such as corrosion, and small particle analyses include environmental samples contaminated by radioisotopes and isotope characterization in extraterrestrial dust. 

The power of analytical instrumentation currently available makes it possible to detect organic pollutants at extremely low concentrations in various environmental samples [64, 362-365]. Such low detection limits are essential if pollutants are to be measured with the accuracy and precision required for modeling their chemodynamic behavior. Most of the work on organic analysis and characterization has resulted from the use of GC and GC-MS. 

Organic pollutants present in aqueous-solid phase environments and discussed in the present chapter include petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, phthalates, phenols, PCBs, chlorocarbons, organotin compounds, and surfactants. In order to study the chemodynamic behavior of these pollutants, it is important that (1) suitable pre-extraction and preservation treatments are implemented for the environmental samples, and (2) specific extraction and/or cleanup techniques for each organic pollutant are carried out prior to the identification and characterization steps. 

Fig. 3 Methods of characterization and quantification of antibiotic resistance in environmental samples...

J. F. "Characterization of Sorbent Resins for Use in Environmental Sampling", National Technical Information Service, 1978, PB-284 347. 

The central dogma of control is what you see depends on how and in which direction you look . This doctrine applies to any detection system, whether it is of a biological or a physicochemical (instrumental) nature. Both in toxicological research and in the chemical characterization of environmental samples, an enrichment step is required to see things. No active enrichment step is incorporated in epidemiological research. 

Chemical and biological analyses of trace organic mixtures in aqueous environmental samples typically require that some type of isolation-concentration method be used prior to testing these residues the inclusion of bioassay in a testing scheme often dictates that large sample volumes (20-500 L) be processed. Discrete chemical analysis only requires demonstration that the isolation technique yields the desired compounds with known precision. However, chemical and/or toxicological characterization of the chemical continuum of molecular properties represented by the unknown mixtures of organics in environmental samples adds an extra dimension of the ideal isolation technique ... 

Because the application of NMR spectroscopy to environmental samples is relatively new, we focused our studies on the identification and characterization of DOP by 31P FT-NMR spectroscopy. Ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis concentration techniques were employed to increase the dissolved organic phosphorus concentrations to the detection level of 31P FT-NMR techniques (approximately 10-20 mg of P/L). With these concentration methods a DOP concentration factor of up to 2000 is obtainable. This chapter reports the use of 31P FT-NMR spectroscopy in the analysis of DOP. In... 

Increased use of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (lc/ms) for structural identification and trace analysis has become apparent. Thermo-spray lc/ms has been used to identify by-products in phenyl isocyanate precolumn derivatization reactions Liquid chromatography/thermospray mass spectrometric characterization of chemical adducts of DNA formed during in vitro reaction lias been proposed as an analytical technique to detect and identify those contaminants in aqueous environmental samples which have a propensity to be genotoxic, t.e.. to covalently bond to DNA. 

Vetter W, Alder L, Palavinskas R (1999) Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Ql, a C9H3CI7N2 Contaminant in Environmental Samples. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 13 2118... 

Francesconi, K.A., Edmonds, J.S. and Morita, M. (1994) Determination of arsenic and arsenic species in marine environmental samples, in Arsenic in the Environment Part I Cycling and Characterization (ed. J.O. Nriagu), John Wiley Sons, Inc., New York, pp. 189-219. 

German Environmental Specimen Bank Established to systematically collect, process, characterize, and store environmental samples. Blood and other human specimens have been collected since 1981 from about 100 unexposed persons (German Federal Environmental Agency 2006). 

Further studies on the transfer analytes that have been purged or extracted from a biological or environmental sample quantitatively and in a narrow band to the capillary GC would better characterize exposure. Improvements in cryofocussing of VOC analytes for capillary GC determination of VOCs (Washall and Wampler 1988) should improve sensitivity for the determination of chlorobenzene. 

Analytical pyrolysis is defined as the characterization of a material or a chemical process by the instrumental analysis of its pyrolysis products (Ericsson and Lattimer, 1989). The most important analytical pyrolysis methods widely applied to environmental samples are Curie-point (flash) pyrolysis combined with electron impact (El) ionization gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Cp Py-GC/MS) and pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS). In contrast to the fragmenting El ionization, soft ionization methods, such as field ionization (FI) and field desorption (FD) each in combination with MS, result in the formation of molecule ions either without, or with only very low, fragmentation (Lehmann and Schulten, 1976 Schulten, 1987 Schulten and Leinweber, 1996 Schulten et al., 1998). The molecule ions are potentially similar to the original sample, which makes these methods particularly suitable to the investigation of complex environmental samples of unknown composition. 

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