Very volatile organic compounds: an understudied class of indoor air pollutants

Abstract

Very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs), as categorized by the WHO, are an important subgroup of indoor pollutants and cover a wide spectrum of chemical substances. Some VVOCs are components of products commonly used indoors, some result from chemical reactions and some are reactive precursors of secondary products. Nevertheless, there is still no clear and internationally accepted definition of VVOCs. Current approaches are based on the boiling point, and the saturation vapor pressure or refer to analytical procedures. A significant problem is that many airborne VVOCs cannot be routinely analyzed by the usually applied technique of sampling on Tenax TA â followed by thermal desorption GC/MS or by DNPH-sampling/ HPLC/UV. Some VVOCs are therefore often neglected in indoor-related studies. However, VVOCs are of high significance for indoor air quality assessment and there is need for their broader consideration in measurement campaigns and material emission testing. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. T. SalthammerThe copyright line for this article was changed on 8th January 2015 after original online publication.Received for review 28 September 2014. Accepted for publication 26 November 2014. Practical ImplicationsSo far, many very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs) are insufficiently considered, although they are of importance for the evaluation of indoor air quality and building product emissions. Moreover, an appropriate definition of VVOCs does not exist. Therefore, it is the purpose of this publication to shift VVOCs more into the focus of indoorrelated research. Potential VVOCs, their sources, indoor air concentrations, and analytical procedures are critically discussed.

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