Nitro-PAK: — Bildung, Umweltverhalten und Wirkungen

Determination of 1-nitropyrene with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay versus high-performance column switching technique

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on microplates and a HPLC coupled-column switching method were compared for the determination of the nitroarene compound 1-nitropyrene in airborne particulate organic matter collected at a busy intersection over a period of 2 months. After purification of the sample extract with silica, in the multidimensional chromatographic method nitroarenes were separated on a RP18 precolumn from matrix constituents followed by on-line reduction to corresponding aminoarenes with a Pt catalyst on alumina and a further separation of 1-aminopyrene on a second RP18 column. Methanol-water (70:30, v/v) was the mobile phase used. With ELISA, a six-fold overestimation was obtained for untreated samples. After clean-up it was lowered to approximately 1.6-fold overestimation which was mainly caused by cross-reaction of 2-nitropyrene and 2-nitrofluoranthene.

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and substitutes (nitro-, Oxy-PAHs) in urban soil and airborne particulate by GC-MS and NCI-MS/MS

A method involving high resolution gas chromatography combined with ion trap (HRGC-MS/MS) and negative chemical ionisation (NCI) was developed for the determination of nitrated or oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nitro-PAHs, oxy-PAHs) and other electrophilic substitutes in soil samples. Efficient clean-up was achieved by a combination of methods for the determination of PAHs in soil and nitro-PAHs in aerosol using solid phase extraction (SPE) and semipreparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In samples of surface soil from the city of Basle (Switzerland), nitro-PAHs (mainly 3-nitrofluoranthene and 1-nitropyrene) were found in concentrations between 30 and 800 ng/kg dry weight. Oxy-PAHs and parent PAHs revealed 10(2)-10(4)-fold higher levels. Nitro-PAHs which are up to 10(5) times more mutagenic seem to be less persistent in soil than the parent forms, although their entire mutagenic potential has to be estimated as being on the same order of magnitude. In urban air particulate matter, the amounts of nitro-PAHs (2-62 pg/m(3)) were 10-100 times lower than oxy-PAHs and parent PAHs which were both found in a similar range. 3-nitrobenzanthrone, a recently described suspected human carcinogen has not yet been detected. Using multivariate statistical analysis, it was possible to elucidate similarities or special characteristics of substances in a given matrix reflecting their chemical properties or specific emission sources.