Identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in suspended particulate matter by synchronous fluorescence spectroscopic technique

The synchronous fluorescence (SF) technique has been used in the identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from air particulate sample in an urban environment of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Suspended particulate matter samples of 24 h duration were collected on glass fiber filter papers. PAHs were extracted from the filter papers using dichloromethane (DCM) + hexane with ultrasonication method. Qualitative measurements of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were carried out using the SF technique at various wavelength intervals (Δλ). Due to the difference in chemical structure, each PAH gives specific characteristic spectrum for each Δλ. Following PAHs were detected in our measurement: benz(a)anthracene (BaA), pyrene (Pyr), chrysene (Chry), fluoranthene (Flan), phenanthrene (Phen), and benz(ghi)perylene (BghiP). This is in agreement with our earlier work for determination of these PAHs using gas chromatography (GC). The seasonal variation of the PAHs was found to be maximum in winter and minimum during the monsoon.