Composition and mass size distribution of nitrated and oxygenated aromatic compounds in ambient particulate matter from southern and central Europe – implications for origin

Abstract

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Nitro-monoaromatic hydrocarbons (NMAHs), such as nitrocatechols, nitrophenols and nitrosalicylic acids, are important constituents of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and humic-like substances (HULIS). Nitrated and oxygenated derivatives of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs, OPAHs) are toxic and ubiquitous in the ambient air; due to their light absorption properties, together with NMAHs they are part of aerosol brown carbon (BrC). We investigated the winter concentrations of these substance classes in size-resolved particulate matter (PM) from two urban sites in central and southern Europe, i.e. Mainz (MZ), Germany and Thessaloniki (TK), Greece. ∑<sub>11</sub>NMAH concentrations in PM<sub>10</sub> and total PM were 0.51–8.38 and 12.1–72.1 ng m<sup>−3</sup> at MZ and TK site, respectively, whereas ∑<sub>8</sub>OPAHs were 47–1636 and 858–4306 pg m<sup>−3</sup>, and ∑<sub>17</sub>NPAHs were ≤ 90 and 76–578 pg m<sup>−3</sup>, respectively. NMAHs and the water-soluble OPAHs contributed 0.4 and 1.8 %, and 0.0001 and 0.0002 % to the HULIS mass, at MZ and TK, respectively. The mass size distributions of the individual substances generally peaked in the smallest or second smallest size fraction i.e., < 0.49 µm or 0.49–0.95 µm. The mass median diameter (MMD) of NMAHs was 0.10 µm and 0.27 µm at MZ and TK, respectively, while the MMDs of NPAHs and OPAHs were both 0.06 µm at MZ, and 0.12 and 0.10 µm at TK. Correlation analysis between NMAHs, NPAHs and OPAHs from one side and WSOC, HULIS, nitrate, sulphate and potassium cation (K<sup>+</sup>) from another, suggested that the fresh biomass burning emissions dominated at the TK site, while aged air masses (influenced by biomass and fossil fuel burning) were predominant at the MZ site.</p>

One-year measurements of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) markers in the Paris region (France): Concentrations, gas/particle partitioning and SOA source apportionment

“…Major differences between the cold and the warm periods were observed for 2NPh (× 245) and for 4-NG, 4M5NC and 3M5NC (× 20), obviously due to large emissions of their precursors by biomass burning from residential heating in winter (Bruns et al, 2016;Iinuma et al, 2010). Similar seasonal variations in the concentrations of 4-NG, 4M5NC and 3M5NC were recently reported from an urban site in central Europe, Ostrava (Kitanovski et al, 2020).…”

“…With aliphatic chains or aromatic moiety, the SOA markers studied here have amphiphilic functionalities and are soluble in both, water and organic solvents. These markers are part of the humic-like substances (HuLiS) fraction of OA (Graber and Rudich, 2006;Hallquist et al, 2009;Kitanovski et al, 2020). HuLiS form part of an organic or mixed organic and inorganic phase, which is liquid under most ambient conditions (Hallquist et al, 2009;Shahpoury et al, 2016;Shiraiwa et al, 2013).…”

The influence of chemical composition, aerosol acidity, and metal dissolution on the oxidative potential of fine particulate matter and redox potential of the lung lining fluid

“…Some of the redox-active organic species (e.g. quinones) were previously found enriched in PM 0.5 with the mass median diameters in ultrafine range ( Kitanovski et al, 2020 , Lammel et al, 2020 ). As previously noted, aerosols near traffic sources are dominated by submicron and ultrafine particles, including BC and metal particles, with high abundance of ferromagnetic iron oxides consisting mainly of magnetite, maghemite, hematite, and metallic Fe, alongside other transition and heavy metals such as Cu, Mn, Cr, Zn, Ni, and Pb ( Gonet and Maher, 2019 , Maher et al, 2020 ).…”

Utilization of the zebrafish model to unravel the harmful effects of biomass burning during Amazonian wildfires

“…They can also partition into the aqueous phase and react with OH radicals (phenoxy- and catechol-species) 19 . MPs formed during lignin pyrolysis are found in the atmosphere, ambient particulate matter, drinking and surface water of riverine systems 14 , 20 . For example, concentration levels of guaiacol in Poland reached up to 0.63 μg/L in a river and 1.37 μg/L in drinking water 14 .…”