Organic contaminants, environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

CRMs for Contaminants in Environmental Matrices For nearly two decades NIST has been involved in the development of SRMs for the determination of organic contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and chlorinated pesticides in natural environmental matrices such as fossil fuels (Hertz et al.1980 Kline et al. 1985), air and diesel particulate material (May and Wise 1984 Wise et al. 2000), coal tar (Wise et al. 1988a), sediment (Schantz et al. 1990, 1995a Wise et al. 1995), mussel tissue (Wise et al. 1991 Schantz et al. 1997a), fish oil, and whale blubber (Schantz et al. 1995b). Several papers have reviewed and summarized the development of these environmental matrix SRMs (Wise et al. 1988b Wise 1993 Wise and Schantz 1997 Wise et al. 2000). Seventeen natural matrix SRMs for the determination of organic contaminants are currently available from NIST with certified and reference concentrations primarily for PAHs, PCBs, chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofiirans (PCDFs) see Table 3.11. 

Biopract provides technological products and processes for industry, agriculture, and environment. They not only produce technical enzyme preparations but also develop enzymes for applications in agriculture, food, and textile industry as well as in environmental technologies. On the later, bioremediation has been an area of service delivery from Biopract. Their activities regards microbial preparations for the bioremediation of organic contaminants (mineral oil (MKW), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene (BTEX), methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), volatile organic hydrocarbons (VOC), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)). 

The NO + 03 chemiluminescent reaction [Reactions (1-3)] is utilized in two commercially available GC detectors, the TEA detector, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation (Saddle Brook, NJ), and two nitrogen-selective detectors, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation and Antek Instruments, respectively. The TEA detector provides a highly sensitive and selective means of analyzing samples for A-nitrosamines, many of which are known carcinogens. These compounds can be found in such diverse matrices as foods, cosmetics, tobacco products, and environmental samples of soil and water. The TEA detector can also be used to quantify nitroaromatics. This class of compounds includes many explosives and various reactive intermediates used in the chemical industry [121]. Several nitroaromatics are known carcinogens, and are found as environmental contaminants. They have been repeatedly identified in organic aerosol particles, formed from the reaction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with atmospheric nitric acid at the particle surface [122-124], The TEA detector is extremely selective, which aids analyses in complex matrices, but also severely limits the number of potential applications for the detector [125-127],... 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a heterogeneous class of environmental contaminants formed by incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organic matter. They comprise compounds with 2-6 fused benzene rings, most of which (4-6 ring compounds) are known human mutagens and carcinogens. 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and widespread environmental contaminants, some of which may exhibit toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects Because of their low water solubility and hydrophobic nature, PAHs are partitioned... 

In some cases, the effects of complex environmental mixtures could be accounted for in terms of concentration-additive effects of a few chemicals. In sediments of the German river Spittelwasser, which were contaminated by chemical industries in its vicinity, around 10 chemicals of a cocktail of several hundred compounds were found to explain the toxicity of the complex mixture to different aquatic organisms (Brack et al. 1999). The complex mixture of chemicals contained in motorway runoff proved toxic to a crustacean species (Gammarus pulex). Boxall and Maltby (1997) identified 3 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as the cause of this toxicity. Subsequent laboratory experiments with reconstituted mixtures revealed that the toxicity of motorway runoff could indeed be traced to the combined concentration-additive effects of the 3 PAHs. Svenson et al. (2000) identified 4 fatty acids and 2 monoterpenes to be responsible for the inhibitory effects on the nitrification activity of the bacteria Nitrobacter in wastewater from a plant for drying wood-derived fuel. The toxicity of the synthetic mixture composed of 6 dominant toxicants agreed well with the toxicity of the original sample. 

Organic contaminants that present a concern to environmental protection include pesticides (used in agriculture), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, a by-product of incomplete combustion), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, components of coolants and lubricants), phenols (used in the production of plastics and pesticides), dioxins (unwanted by-products of many industrial processes including incineration and chemical manufacturing of phenols, PCBs, and herbicides) and alkyphenols (surfactants in agrochemicals and household cleaning products). 

Environmental applications of RRS [10] were last reviewed by Van Haverbeke and Brown [3], Van Haverbeke et al. [53], Van Haverbeke and Herman [54], and Lynch and Brown [1]. Since these reviews, approximately 12 articles have been published [31,37,39,40,55-63] in which RRS (conventional, FT, and hyphenated and coupled techniques) has been applied to the laboratory-based qualitative and/or quantitative detection of environmental organic and inorganic contaminants. These contaminants include pesticides [56], polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [60], nitroaromatics [63], phenols [39,40,57,58], and dyes [37,59,61,62]. 

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