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27.
Capillary Electrophoresis Determinative and GC-MS Confirmatory
Method for Water-Soluble Organic Acids in Airborne Particulate
Matter and Vehicular Emission
Ewa
Dabek-Zlotorzynska(1a)*, Rocio Aranda-Rodriguez(2)
and Lisa Graham(1b)
(1a)Analysis
and Air Quality Division, (1b)Emission Research and Measurement
Division, Environmental Technology Centre, Environment Canada,
335 River Road, Ottawa, ON K1A OH3
(2) Current Address: PMRA Lab Services, Building 22, C.E.F., 960
Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6
Carbonaceous species, organic carbon (OC) and elemental
carbon (EC), constitute a major, sometimes dominant, fraction
of fine particulate matter (PM). Organic carbon represents a large
variety of organic compounds. Hundreds of non- or semi-polar organic
compounds have been quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
(GC-MS), however much less information is available on the water-soluble
organic compounds, such as carboxylic acids found in the urban
atmospheric fine PM and vehicular emission. Given the potential
importance of carboxylic acids in understanding atmospheric processes,
their accurate and efficient determination in both ambient air
samples and emission samples is crucial to the understanding of
many aspects of air quality and health related issues.
We have previously described a CE procedure with indirect UV detection,
which was successfully implemented in the analysis of a variety
of water-soluble organic acids in urban atmospheric aerosols and
vehicle emissions. The rapidity and simplicity of the method were
clearly demonstrated, and the method was observed to be advantageous
for routine monitoring of water-soluble organic acids in such
samples. However, CE with indirect UV detection lacks the analytical
specificity for individual organic acids, which often results
in identification and quantification difficulties. Thus, this
work focused on confirmation and/or identification of water-soluble
organic acids in urban fine particulate matter and in vehicular
emissions using GC-MS. The obtained results will be discussed
which confirm the presence of acids determined by CE with indirect
UV detection and are in agreement with the literature.
*corresponding author: ewa.dabek@ec.gc.ca
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