Integrating Microbiological and Chemical Testing Into the Screening of Air Samples for Potential Mutagenicity

Characterization of microbial mutagens in complex samples—methodology and application

“…Pellizzari and co-workers extracted airborne particles sequentially with cyclohexane and methanol to obtain a nonpolar and a polar fraction. 85 However, chemical analysis of the two fractions by GC/MS revealed that the two fractions contained essentially the same compounds, and the procedure was therefore abandoned for further studies. Their findings are supported by a study by Hill et al 86 also showing that the composition of methanol vs. cyclohexane extracts of air paniculate samples is largely duplicative.…”

“…The procedures differed from those of Pellizzari et al 85 only in the separation of acidic compounds. Chan and co-workers 102104 used NaHCO 3 and NaOH to extract weak and strong acids, respectively.…”

“…Basic constituents of the sample will then concentrate in the aqueous phase, while acidic and neutral components concentrate in the organic phase. Pellizzari et al 85 found that the recovery of some basic compounds, e.g., quinoline, was higher with sulfuric acid compared to hydrochloric acid.…”

“…Pellizzari et al 85 used the same procedure for acid-base fractionation of samples of airborne particles extracted with cyclohexane and methanol performing the fractionation with DCM substituted for the diethylether. A further subfractionation of the neutral fraction into nonpolar neutrals, PAH, and polar neutrals was obtained as shown in Figure 2.…”

“…Fractionation scheme used by Pellizzari et al85 for extraction and separation of organics from ambient air particles.…”