Determining the levels of volatile organic pollutants in urban air using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method.

ABSTRACT

The paper presents the application of a method based on coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, using an isotopically labelled internal standard for the quantitative analysis of benzene (B), toluene (T), ethyl benzene (E), and o-, m-, p-xylenes (X). Their atmospheric concentrations were determined based on short-term sampling, in different sites of Cluj-Napoca, a highly populated urban centre in N-W Romania, with numerous and diversified road vehicles with internal combustion engines. The method is relatively inexpensive and simple and shows good precision and linearity in the ranges of 7-60 mug/m(3) (B), 13-90 mug/m(3) (T), 7-50 mug/m(3) (E), 10-70 mug/m(3) (X-m,p), and 20-130 mug/m(3) (X-o). The limits of quantitation/detection of the method LOQ/LOD are of 10/5 mug/m(3) (Xo), 5/3 mug/m(3) (B, E, X-m,p), and of 3/1 mug/m(3) (T), respectively.