Simultaneous Monitoring Method of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

intentionally manufactured or synthesized, as well as dioxins; however, they exist in fossil fuels, such as petroleum and coal. They are organic pollutants produced unintentionally by the combustion of organic compounds, like fossil fuels and waste. Especially, PAHs are formed during incomplete combustion; some PAHs, such as benzo(a)pyrene, have high carcinogenicity and mutagenicity for humans and animals. They are contained as a gaseous form and an adsorbed form on suspended particulate matter in the atmosphere; some of them are decomposed immediately upon the irradiation of sunlight. However, by shutting out sunlight they are fairly stable and exist for a long time.1 PAHs diffuse and move over a wide area with the atmospheric stream and suspended particulate matter. PAHs that fall directly on the ground or are dissolved in rainwater and accumulated in the soil, are subsequently incorporated into the bodies of humans and the animals through their respiration near the ground level.1–3 On the other hand, chemical substances called persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as PCB and DDT, are easily concentrated in the living body because of their hydrophobicity and fat-solubility.4 Also, they can be transported on the earth on a global scale via the atmosphere and oceans, and are harmful to human health and the environmental ecosystems.5–9 Since the “Stockholm Treaty Concerning Persistent Organic Pollutants (the POPs Treaty)” was adopted in May, 2001, every country has taken countermeasures. To verify the effectivity of these measures and actions, the concentrations of POPs in the environment have been mainly monitored in Europe and USA. The monitoring of PAHs has also been carryed out in these countries. During these monitorings, simultaneous sampling and analyzing of PAHs and POPs has been scarcely performed. Generally, quartz fiber filter paper (QFP) or grass fiber filter paper (GFP) has been used as an adsorbing material to collect target compounds of the PAHs and the POPs contained in the atmosphere.10,11 In order to collect a gaseous sample, adsorbing cartridges of styrene-divinyl forms have been used;12,13 further, polyurethane forms or activated carbon felts have been used as a back-up filter of QFP or GFP.6,14–17 Although it is very important to determine and to evaluate the atmospheric concentrations of the target compounds in the area, it is difficult to exactly determine the concentration of the target compounds in the case of short-term monitoring, like for 24 h, because their atmospheric concentrations vary with an influence of the climate. Therefore, to exactly understand the variational behavior of the target compounds during short-term monitoring, like for one day, it is necessary to collect samples within as short a time interval as possible. For long-term monitoring, like for several months, a sampling method using simple equipment, such as a passive sampler, seems to be useful to continuously collect the target compounds.18,19 The authors have proposed a method using of activated carbon 583 ANALYTICAL SCIENCES APRIL 2006, VOL. 22 2006 © The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry