title: Nitrosamine measurements in ambient air of an industrial area in Austria.
abstract: The area of Linz (Oberösterreich) is the most heavily polluted region in Austria, due to its chemical and steel industry. In 1981, a survey of volatile nitrosamines in ambient air performed by a local laboratory revealed levels of up to 5.45 micrograms/m3. This instigated the setting up of a systematic nitrosamine monitoring programme from February 1983 to May 1984, during which the validity of the analytical procedures was determined. A total of 363 air samples was collected over 200 days at 16 different locations in and around Linz. About 6% of the samples showed low nitrosamine contamination, with levels between 0.01 and 0.04 microgram/m3 of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), and N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR). The lower limit of detection was 0.005 microgram/m3. It was not possible to confirm these low concentrations by high-resolution mass spectrometry. In some samples, thermal energy analyser-responsive material was observed, which may be due to the occurrence of C-nitro compounds.
authors: Institute for Toxicology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Spiegelhalder
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Preussmann
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D001317:Austria; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D009602:Nitrosamines / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009602:Nitrosamines