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The various synthetic raw materials used into car cabins are potential sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Consequently, the odors commonly present in the interior of the car could be assigned to these sources, especially in new and parked cars. Sensory analysis remains the obvious tool for evaluation of perceived indoor air quality, despite of the development of new state-of-art chemical analysis.The aim of the current study is to present a sensorial tool, an odor evaluation method for car parts and car cabins. The selection of 13 standards among the 45 basic standards of the Field of Odors, as well as seven "custom" standards, was established. All of these standards are used as a common language to describe the nature of odor in a sensory descriptive analysis approach. The setup of these standards provides us objective and comparative data. Odorous fingerprints from car parts have been found, explaining the dominant odors perceived in car cabins. The experimental setup applied for a particular case indicates that mainly foam parts have the major impact on car cabin smell and present a masking effect on the odor of the other parts. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThe use of polymer materials (such as foams, plastics, carpets, etc.), paints and adhesives into the car cabin implies the emission of numerous VOCs in the interior of the vehicle. These compounds are responsible for the "new car smell." This research provides sensory terms and an odor intensity scale that can be used to describe the ambient smell in the car cabin, but also the odor from car parts or car raw materials. This information is useful to the manufacturers in understanding the odorous characteristics of their car cabins assembly, according to the raw materials used, and also to the car part suppliers, submitted to some requirements in terms of odor's intensity and nature. Journal of Sensory Studies

An Ion Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (IC-MS) method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of 14 volatile amines in air. The method includes collection of compounds into two midget impingers in a row filled with 15 ml of ultrapure water. The analytical performances with mass spectrometry detection were compared to those obtained with classical conductivity detection. The use of mass spectrometry detection (in SIM mode) overcomes most of the coelutions encountered with conductivity detection. Although the linearity domain of calibrations is reduced for the MS detection as compared with the CD detection, the detection limits in MS detection are highly lowered allowing the quantification of amines at the levels of μg m(-3) in air with a good accuracy for most compounds (RSD of less than 10%). This method was successfully applied to the analysis of amines released from polyurethane foams. Seven amines were identified and some in high concentrations, like dimethylaminoethanol, NIAX and TEDA.

Environmental context Identifying the source and stimuli responsible for organic ligands in seawater is crucial to understanding trace metal availability. Voltammetric techniques were employed to characterise the water chemistry of seaweed cultures exposed to low levels of Cu or Zn over 7 days. The results suggest that seaweeds are a potential source of metal complexing ligands and Cu and Zn appear to stimulate ligand production; further research is required to determine if this is applicable to macroalgae and metals outside this study. Abstract It is widely accepted that organic ligands control metal speciation in seawater, although little is known about their source, stimuli or identity. To gain insight on the possible environmental controls of metal complexing ligands (L), three brown macroalgae common in Irish waters (Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus and Laminaria hyperborea) were cultured under low levels of Cu (0, 7.86 or 15.7nM) or Zn (0, 15.2 or 91.7nM) exposure. Seaweed chlorophyll-a fluorescence (Fv/Fm), metal speciation (Cu, Zn), complexing ligands (LM), conditional stability constants (logK′LM), glutathione (GSH), cysteine (Cys) and seaweed metal contents were monitored over 7 days. Although there was no effect on the internal seaweed metal concentrations, Cu and Zn additions significantly altered the water chemistry of each culture. Metal additions increased the total dissolved metal concentrations for all three species. Significantly higher [LM] values in cultures with added metals than the relevant controls point to both metals as stimuli of L production. All species released ligands in response to Cu or Zn exposure, indicating each seaweed is a relevant source of L. Comparison of logK′ values to those of previously determined ligands provides little evidence that the ligands reported here belong to the compounds identified as L in the literature.

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