A New Approach to Characterizing the Partitioning of Volatile Organic Compounds to Cotton Fabric

Abstract

Chemical partitioning to surfaces can influence human exposure by various pathways, resulting in adverse health consequences. Clothing can act as a source, a barrier, or a transient reservoir for chemicals that can affect dermal and inhalation exposure rates. A few clothing-mediated exposure studies have characterized the accumulation of a select number of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), but systematic studies on the partitioning behavior for classes of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and SVOCs are lacking. Here, the cloth–air equilibrium partition ratios (K CA) for carbonyl, carboxylic acid, and aromatic VOC homologous series were characterized for cellulose-based cotton fabric, using timed exposures in a real indoor setting followed by online thermal desorption and nontargeted mass spectrometric analysis. The analyzed VOCs exhibit rapid equilibration within a day. Homologous series generally show linear correlations of the logarithm of K CA with carbon number and the logarithms of the VOC vapor pressure and octanol–air equilibrium partition ratio (K OA). When expressed as a volume-normalized partition ratio, log K CA_V values are in a range of 5–8, similar to the values for previously measured SVOCs which have lower volatility. When expressed as surface area-normalized adsorption constants, K CA_S values suggest that equilibration corresponds to a saturated surface coverage of adsorbed species. Aqueous solvation may occur for the most water-soluble species such as formic and acetic acids. Overall, this new experimental approach facilitates VOC partitioning studies relevant to environmental exposure.

Indoor partitioning and potential thirdhand exposure to carbonyl flavoring agents added in e-cigarettes and hookah tobacco

“…For instance, the water surface in a sink and the water absorbed in clothes are both indoor water-rich reservoirs. 68 Meanwhile, the organic lm on kitchen surfaces aer cooking and the paint layer of walls can be organic-rich reservoirs indoors. 69,70 From a microscopic perspective, the surface organic lms with the thickness up to tens of nanometers are formed from molecule accumulation over months, and the composition of semi-volatile compounds can be uniform over weeks.…”

Cloth–Air Partitioning of Neutral Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in North Carolina Homes during the Indoor PFAS Assessment (IPA) Campaign

“…A similar inverse relationship between log(K ca ) and vapor pressure has also been observed for PDBEs and VOCs. 37,54 Further, we observed an inverse relationship between log(K ca ) for all neutral PFAS except EtFOSA and indoor temperature, indicating that these species favor the gas phase over the cloth at elevated temperatures (Section S7; Figures S12 and S13). Although the correlations are modest, they are significant (95% confidence interval) for 6:2 FTOH and MeFOSE, with R 2 values of 0.24 and 0.55 and p values of 0.0152 and 0.0002, respectively.…”

“…Previous studies have shown positive correlations between log(K ca ) and log(K oa ) for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), 35,37 phthalates, some PCBs, 35,38 and homologous series of VOCs. 54 However, in these cases, log(K ca ) was either below the 1:1 line (for PBDEs, phthalates, and PCBs) or above the 1:1 line (for VOCs; Figure S10). Five of the six neutral PFAS log(K ca ) values increase with log(K oa ); the log(K ca ) values of MeFOSE and EtFOSE are nearly identical despite an evident, yet small, difference in log(K oa ).…”

Release Behavior of Liquid Crystal Monomers from Waste Smartphone Screens: Occurrence, Distribution, and Mechanistic Modeling

“…Since the material–phase diffusion models and material–air partition coefficients ( K m‑a , eq S1) for LCMs were absent, the empirical models for other anthropogenic semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) with similar physiochemical properties, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), could be used as references. ,− The diffusion-partitioning of LCMs from LL to LGP and SP was estimated by using two modeling methods.…”