Ambient air measurements of six bifunctional carbonyls in a suburban area

Low-molecular-weight carbonyl compounds, generated by photochemical reactions in the atmosphere and found in the exhaust of motor vehicles, have recently come to the attention of researchers because some of them are suspected carcinogens or mutagens. Six bifunctional carbonyl compounds were detected and measured in a suburban site 30 km northwest of the Tokyo metropolitan area. Samples were taken on five sunny days between 2 August and 11 August 2003 with a low-volume denuder and three-filter tandem system using O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine (PFBHA) as a sorbent. Bifunctional carbonyls were measured by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry after two derivatization processes with PFBHA and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA). The average total (gas plus particle) concentrations were 162.8 ng m− 3 for pyruvic acid, 113.7 ng m− 3 for methylglyoxal, 36.0 ng m− 3 for glycolaldehyde and 58.6 ng m− 3 for glyoxal.