Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination of buildings continues to pose an exposure threat, even decades after their application in the form of calks and other building materials. In this research, we investigate the ability of clothing to sorb PCBs from contaminated air and thereby influence exposure. The equilibrium concentration of PCB-28 and PCB-52 was quantified for nine used clothing fabrics exposed for 56 days

The substance group of very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs) is moving into the focus of indoor air analysis, facing ongoing regulations at international and European levels targeting on indoor air quality and human health. However, there exists at present no validated analysis for the identification and quantification of VVOCs in indoor air. Therefore, the present study targeted on the development of an analytical method in order to sample the maximum possible quantity of VVOCs in indoor air on solid sorbents with subsequent analysis by thermal desorption and coupled gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TDS-GC/MS). For this purpose, it was necessary to investigate the performance of available sorbents and to optimize the parameters of GC/MS analysis. Stainless steel tubes filled with Carbograph 5TD were applied successfully for low-volume sampling (2–4 l) with minimal breakthrough (< 1%). With the developed method, VVOCs between C3 and C6 of different volatility and polarity  can be detected even in trace quantities with low limits of quantitation (LOQ; 1–3 μg m−3). Limitations occur for low molecular weight compounds ≤C3, especially for polar substances, such as carboxylic acids and for some aldehydes and alcohols. Consequently, established methods for the quantification of these compounds in indoor air cannot be fully substituted yet. At least three different analytical techniques are needed to cover the large spectrum of relevant VVOCs in indoor air. In addition, unexpected reaction products might occur and need to be taken into account to avoid misinterpretation of chromatographic signals. Graphical abstractSolid sorbent sampling of VVOCs (C3-C6) in indoor air with subsequent TDS-GC/MS analysis Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00216-018-1004-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

We monitored the distribution of SVOCs in model rooms in dependence of temperature and cleaning measures over a period of six months.