Toxic volatile organic compounds, determination

EPA. 1988f Method T02. Method for the determination of volatile organic compounds in ambient air by carbon molecular sieve adsorption and GC/MS. Compendium of methods for the determination of toxic organic compounds in ambient air. Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RTP, NC. EPA/600/4-89/017. 

Various other workers have reported on the determination of volatile organic compounds in soils [186,187] and landfill soils [188]. Soil fumigants such as methyl bromide have also been determined by this technique [189]. Trifluoroacetic acid is a breakdown product of hydrofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbon refrigerant products in the atmosphere and, as such, due to the known toxicity of trifluoroacetic acid, it is important to be able to determine it in the atmosphere, water and in soil from an environmental point of view [190]. In this method the trifluoroacetic acid is extracted from the soil sample by sulfuric acid and methanol, which is then followed by the derivatisation of it to the methyl ester. The highly volatile methyl ester is then analysed with a recovery of 87% using headspace gas chromatography. Levels of trifluoroacetic acid in soil down to 0.2 ng/g can be determined by the procedure. 

DOD. 1991. Comparison of headspace gas chromatography with EPA SW-846 method 8240 for determination of volatile organic compounds in soil. Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency. U.S. Department of the Army. CETHA-TE-CR-91009. 

Determination of Toxic Gases and Volatile Organic Compounds in Human Beings... 

Organic residual components are the most worrying because of their toxicity. Some of these compounds are formed as by-products. Volatile organic compounds are determined by headspace GC, GC-MS. Intermediate products, such as sultones and sulfones, from sulfonation of olefin and alkyl-benzene, respectively, can be detected by LC. Unreacted products, like ethylene oxide from the synthesis of ethoxylated nonionic and anionic surfactants, are studied by GC benzyl chloride from the quaternization of tertiary amines and aliphatic amines from amidation reaction are determined by LC (Figure 5). 

On the other hand, Aboul-Kassim [1] assessed the environmental impact of hazardous waste materials in landfills by (1) characterizing the different organic compound fractions present in such wastes and their leachates, (2) determining the toxic effect of each fraction and individual organic compounds, and (3) studying the chemodynamics (i.e., fate and transport) of such leachates by using a battery of laboratory experiments (such as sorption/desorption, photolysis, volatilization, biodegradation). 

Mercury may be present in air in different chemical states such as the elemental form (as a vapour or adsorbed on particular matter) or in the form of volatile mercury compounds (mercury chloride, methyl-mercuric chloride, and dimethyl mercury). Although elemental mercury is only one of the mercury forms which is not as toxic as its organic or ionic forms, analytical determination of elemental mercury is of special importance. Such analysis is used not only for determination of elemental mercury in environment, but also as a method for determination of other forms of mercury after reductive treatment. 

A number of studies have examined the role of various factors such as volatility and solubility on the efficacy of soil insecticides.(14) While the soil itself affects the efficacy of soil insecticides, the major determinate of biological activity is the amount of organic material in the soil.(15) Simmons, Lew, Silverman and Ali studied the effect of pyrethroids and some commercial insecticides on 3 instar southern com rootworm larva (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardii).(16) They found that a combination of calculated lipophilicity and calculated volatility could predict soil pLCso based on the topical pLDso. The volatility was expressed as the log of the vapor pressure in nun Hg. We re-plotted the difference of the topical pLDso - soil pLCso with the calculated logP and calculated log volatility in a 3D graph shown in Figure 9. It can be seen as the compounds become more volatile (logVp < 5) that is a marked increase in soil toxicity. As the compounds become less lipophilic (more hydrophilic), they also become more toxic in the soil. 

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