COMPARISON OF TWO ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF AZAARENES IN ATMOSPHERIC PARTICULATE MATTER

In this paper, the development of an analytical method for the separation and quantification of 20 azaarenes is described. Two methods are compared: high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-fluorescence) and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS).

Although HPLC-fluorescence was proven to be the most sensitive method, GC-MS was selected in particular for the efficiency of the separation of the 20 azaarenes. The detection limits of the HPLC-fluorescence and GC-MS methods varied between 0.04 μ g.L^?1 (dibenza,c]acridine) and 1.30 μ g.L ^?1 (acridine) and between 1.50 μ g.L ^?1 (benzc]acridine) and 2.56 μ g.L ^?1 (dibenza,c]acridine) respectively.

The GC-MS method was applied to particulate matter (PM ₁₀ ) samples collected over 48–72 h periods between April 2006 and February 2007 in Strasbourg (East of France). Before analysis aerosol samples were Soxhlet extracted and concentrated to a final volume of about 1 mL of hexane.

The seasonally mean concentrations of all azaarenes for this urban site have shown a seasonal variation in which the maximum concentration occurred in the winter (6.0 ng.m ³ ) and the minimum in the summer (0.90 ng.m³). For all the seasons the 2 rings species were the predominant azaarenes while the > 4 rings species were the less abundant.