Abstract. Within the framework of the AFO 2000 project ECHO, two PTR-MS instruments were operated in combination with sonic anemometers to determine biogenic VOC fluxes from a mixed deciduous forest site in North-Western Germany. The measurement site was characterised by a forest of inhomogeneous composition, complex canopy structure, limited extension in certain wind directions and frequent calm wind conditions during night time. The eddy covariance (EC) technique was applied since it represents the most direct flux measurement approach on the canopy scale and is, therefore, least susceptible to these non-ideal conditions. A specific flux calculation method was used to account for the sequential multi-component PTR-MS measurements and allowing an individual delay time adjustment as well as a rigorous quality control based on cospectral analysis. The validated flux results are consistent with light and temperature dependent emissions of isoprene and monoterpenes from this forest, with average daytime emissions of 0.94 and 0.3 µg m −2 s −1 , respectively. Emissions of methanol reached on average 0.087 µg m −2 s −1 during daytime, but fluxes were too small to be detected during night time. Upward fluxes of the isoprene oxidation products methyl vinyl ketone (MVK) and methacrolein (MACR) were also found, being two orders of magnitude lower than those of isoprene. Calculations with an analytical footprint model indicate that the observed isoprene fluxes correlate with the fraction of oaks within the footprints of the flux measurement.

The storage capability of Tedlar® bags for gaseous compounds was assessed using on-line proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). Sample bags were filled with a mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at known quantities in the ppbv range. The test gas included alcohol, nitrile, aldehyde, ketone, terpene and aromatic compounds. PTR-MS enabled frequent bag-direct measurements of compound abundances over a 70 h storage period. Concentrations of all compounds decreased with bag storage time, with compound-specific decay rates. The most rapid decline in concentration levels was seen for water vapour in the bag, i.e. sample humidity. Such a decrease is particularly relevant for breath-gas samples, where water vapour content is high. Compound losses were attributed to a combination of adsorption to and diffusion through the bag walls. Storage property observations suggest that sample analyses made within 10 h of sampling offer adequate sample authenticity replication. Based on observations, an appropriate bag-cleaning procedure was established and assessed. Results indicated that acceptable bag cleanliness for breath-gas sampling is achievable.

ABSTRACT

We used proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) to examine the products formed when ozone reacted with the materials in a simulated aircraft cabin, including a loaded high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in the return air system. Four conditions were examined: cabin (baseline), cabin plus ozone, cabin plus soiled T-shirts (surrogates for human occupants), and cabin plus soiled T-shirts plus ozone. The addition of ozone to the cabin without T-shirts, at concentrations typically encountered during commercial air travel, increased the mixing ratio (v:v concentration) of detected pollutants from 35 ppb to 80 ppb. Most of this increase was due to the production of saturated and unsaturated aldehydes and tentatively identified low-molecular-weight carboxylic acids. The addition of soiled T-shirts, with no ozone present, increased the mixing ratio of pollutants in the cabin air only slightly, whereas the combination of soiled T-shirts and ozone increased the mixing ratio of detected pollutants to 110 ppb, with more than 20 ppb originating from squalene oxidation products (acetone, 4-oxopentanal, and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one). For the two conditions with ozone present, the more-abundant oxidation products included acetone/propanal (8-20 ppb), formaldehyde (8-10 ppb), nonanal (approximately 6 ppb), 4-oxopentanal (3-7 ppb), acetic acid (approximately 7 ppb), formic acid (approximately 3 ppb), and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one (0.5-2.5 ppb), as well as compounds tentatively identified as acrolein (0.6-1 ppb) and crotonaldehyde (0.6-0.8 ppb). The odor thresholds of certain products were exceeded. With an outdoor air exchange of 3 h(-1) and a recirculation rate of 20 h(-1), the measured ozone surface removal rate constant was 6.3 h(-1) when T-shirts were not present, compared to 11.4 h(-1) when T-shirts were present.

Breath analysis research is being successfully pursued using a variety of analytical methods, prominent amongst which are gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry, IMS, and the fast flow and flow-drift tube techniques called selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry, SIFT-MS, and proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, PTR-MS. In this paper the case is made for real-time breath analysis by obviating sample collection into bags or onto traps that can suffer from partial degradation of breath metabolites or the introduction of impurities. Real-time analysis of a broad range of volatile chemical compounds can be best achieved using SIFT-MS and PTR-MS, which are sufficiently sensitive and rapid to allow the simultaneous analyses of several trace gas metabolites in single breath exhalations. The basic principles and the ion chemistry that underpin these two analytical techniques are briefly described and the differences between them, including their respective strengths and weaknesses, are revealed, especially with reference to the analysis of the complex matrix that is exhaled breath. A recent innovation is described that combines time-of-flight mass spectrometry with the proton transfer flow-drift tube reactor, PTR-TOFMS, which provides greater resolution in the analytical mass spectrometer and allows separation of protonated isobaric molecules. Examples are presented of some recent data that well illustrate the quality and real-time feature of SIFT-MS and PTR-MS for the analysis of exhaled breath for physiological/biochemical/pharmacokinetics studies and for the identification and quantification of biomarkers relating to specific disease states.