The determination of volatile organic compounds in city air by gas chromatography combined with standard addition, selective subtraction, infrared spectrometry and mass spectrometry

• Published in: Atmospheric environment 1977, Vol.11 (8), p.703-717
• Main Authors: Louw, C.W., Richards, J.F., Faure, P.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0004-6981
• DOI: 10.1016/0004-6981(77)90179-2

A versatile method has been developed for the determination of C 1-C 13 volatile organic compounds in city air. It relies on relatively simple, yet efficient techniques of sample collection and recovery and involves the use of gas chromatography combined with standard addition, selective subtraction, infrared spectrometry and mass spectrometry. This method was applied to identify about 200 volatile organic compounds occurring in the air of three large South African cities. It could be demonstrated that the majority of these compounds were paraffinic hydrocarbons which are known to be relatively inactive in photochemical reactions. However, a considerable number of olefinic and aromatic hydrocarbons which are known to be the precursors of photochemical smog could also be identified. It is probable that these compounds are present in concentrations which are still too low to produce any significant large scale photochemical reactions. Quantitative determinations showed that the concentration ranges obtained for a number of the C 1-C 13 volatile organic compounds are very similar to those reported for cities elsewhere in the world.