Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons examples

A large number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are known Many have been synthesized m the laboratory and several of the others are products of com bustion Benzo[a]pyrene for example is present m tobacco smoke contaminates food cooked on barbecue grills and collects m the soot of chimneys Benzo[a]pyrene is a carcinogen (a cancer causing substance) It is converted m the liver to an epoxy diol that can induce mutations leading to the uncontrolled growth of certain cells... 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, of which anthracene is an example contain two or more benzene rings fused together... 

Unbumed Hydrocarbons Various unburned hydrocarbon species may be emitted from hydrocarbon flames. In general, there are two classes of unburned hydrocarbons (1) small molecules that are the intermediate products of combustion (for example, formaldehyde) and (2) larger molecules that are formed by pyro-synthesis in hot, fuel-rich zones within flames, e.g., benzene, toluene, xylene, and various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many of these species are listed as Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) in Title III of the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 and are therefore of particular concern. In a well-adjusted combustion system, emission or HAPs is extremely low (typically, parts per trillion to parts per billion). However, emission of certain HAPs may be of concern in poorly designed or maladjusted systems. 

An alternative way of eliminating water in the RPLC eluent is to introduce an SPE trapping column after the LC column (88, 99). After a post-column addition of water (to prevent breakthrough of the less retained compounds), the fraction that elutes from the RPLC column is trapped on to a short-column which is usually packed with polymeric sorbent. This system can use mobile phases containing salts, buffers or ion-pair reagents which can not be introduced directly into the GC unit. This system has been successfully applied, for example, to the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples (99). 

Epoxides are often encountered in nature, both as intermediates in key biosynthetic pathways and as secondary metabolites. The selective epoxidation of squa-lene, resulting in 2,3-squalene oxide, for example, is the prelude to the remarkable olefin oligomerization cascade that creates the steroid nucleus [7]. Tetrahydrodiols, the ultimate products of metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, bind to the nucleic acids of mammalian cells and are implicated in carcinogenesis [8], In organic synthesis, epoxides are invaluable building blocks for introduction of diverse functionality into the hydrocarbon backbone in a 1,2-fashion. It is therefore not surprising that chemistry of epoxides has received much attention [9]. 

The next eight chapters will be devoted to the ecotoxicology of groups of compounds that have caused concern on account of their real or perceived environmental effects and have been studied both in the laboratory and in the field. These are predominantly compounds produced by humans. However, a few of them, for example, methyl mercury, methyl arsenic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are also naturally occurring. In this latter case, there can be difficulty in distinguishing between human and natural sources of harmful chemicals. 

The metabolic activity of other white-rot fungi including Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Pleurotus ostreacus has been discussed in the context of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. For example, the mineralization potential of the manganese peroxide system fmmNematolomafrowardii for a number of substrates has been demonstrated (Hofrichter et al. 1998) the formation of CO2 from labeled substrates ranged from 7% (pyrene) to 36% (pentachlorophenol), 42% (2-amino-4, 6-dinitrotoluene), and 49% (catechol). 

Although these issues have already been briefly noted, they deserve a few additional comments. For freely water-soluble substrates that have low volatility, there are few difficulties in carrying out the appropriate experiments described above. There is, however, increasing interest in xenobiotics such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and highly chlorinated compounds including, for example, PCBs, which have only low water solubility. In addition, attention has been focused on volatile chlorinated aliphatic compounds such as the chloroethenes, dichloromethane, and carbon tetrachloride. All of these substrates present experimental difficulties of greater or lesser severity. 

Spectra at p (=20) wavelengths. Because of the Lambert-Beer law, all measured spectra are linear combinations of the two pure spectra. Together they form a 15x20 data matrix. For example the UV-visible spectra of mixtures of two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) given in Fig. 34.2 are linear combinations of the pure spectra shown in Fig. 34.3. These mixture spectra define a data matrix X, which can be written as the product of a 15x2 concentration matrix C with the 2x20 matrix of the pure spectra ... 

Oxidation is intimately linked to the activation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) to carcinogens (1-3). Oxidation of PAH in animals and man is enzyme-catalyzed and is a response to the introduction of foreign compounds into the cellular environment. The most intensively studied enzyme of PAH oxidation is cytochrome P-450, which is a mixed-function oxidase that receives its electrons from NADPH via a one or two component electron transport chain (10. Some forms of this enzyme play a major role in systemic metabolism of PAH (4 ). However, there are numerous examples of carcinogens that require metabolic activation, including PAH, that induce cancer in tissues with low mixed-function oxidase activity ( 5). In order to comprehensively evaluate the metabolic activation of PAH, one must consider all cellular pathways for their oxidative activation. 

Nitro polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are environmental contaminants which have been detected in airborne particulates, coal fly ash, diesel emission and carbon black photocopier toners. These compounds are metabolized Tn vitro to genotoxic agents through ring oxidation and/or nitroreduction. The details of these metabolic pathways are considered using 4-nitrobiphenyl, 1- and 2-nitronaphthalene, 5-nitro-acenaphthene, 7-nitrobenz[a]anthracene, 6-nitro-chrysene, 1-nitropyrene, 1,3-, 1,6- and 1,8-dinitro-pyrene, and 1-, 3- and 6-nitrobenzo[a] pyrene as examples ... 

Various organic molecules are used as photosensitizers in liquid-phase reactions, for example, anthraquinones, aryl ketones, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dyes, etc. The following mechanism, as the most probable, was suggested for the initiation by the organic photosensitizer Q with the aromatic ring [204-208] ... 

Together with singly charged ions doubly and multiply charged ions may also arise in the ionization process. However, the number of doubly charged and especially of multiply charged species is much lower. The yield of these ions depends on the structure of a molecule and on the experimental conditions. For example, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons give more ions of these types compared to aliphatic or monoaromatic compounds. 

Procedure 12.7 is an example of a basic approach that has also been used to clean up polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and N-, P-, and Cl-containing pesticides before further analysis [25],... 

An example of three types of reactive substrates includes the metabolically generated epoxides of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, e.g., benzo[a]pyrene-4,5-epoxide (25), the diuretic ethacrynic acid, and the hypnotic agent bromisoval as shown in Figure 7.16. 

Fig. 4. Chemical structures of some examples of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons...

Example 2 Separation of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and an alkyl benzoate. The logP values of fluorene and butyl benzoate are 3.91 and 3.74, respectively, from Table 4.1. The separation is poor in 50% aqueous aceto-... 

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