Determination of saccharides in atmospheric aerosol using anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography and pulsed-amperometric detection.
An improved method is described for the quantification of primary sugars, sugar alcohols and anhydrosugars in atmospheric aerosols, making use of separation by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) with pulsed amperometric detection (PAD). Quartz fibre filters from high-volume samplers were extracted with water and the extract injected directly. Repeatability is typically 4% RSD, for e.g. levoglucosan at 50 ng m(-3) in air, better for winter levels around 700 ng m(-3). Limits of detection for individual sugars are in the range 0.02-0.05 microg mL(-1) in solution, corresponding to 2-5 ng m(-3) from a 20 m(3) air sample. The overlap of arabitol and levogluocosan is overcome by using a Dionex PA-1 column, with appropriate control of eluent composition, and peak deconvolution software, allowing quantification of both sugars in difficult summer samples containing low-levels of levoglucosan. Analysis of a set of ambient aerosol samples by both GC-flame ionization detection and HPAEC-PAD shows good agreement. The new method has the advantage of requiring no sample pretreatment or derivatization and is thus well suited to handling large numbers of samples.
Caseiro
Alexandre
A
Institute for Chemical Technologies and Analytics, Vienna University of Technology, Getreidemarkt 9/164-UPA, 1060 Vienna, Austria. alexandrecaseiro@ua.pt
Marr
Iain L
IL
Claeys
Magda
M
Kasper-Giebl
Anne
A
Puxbaum
Hans
H
Pio
Casimiro A
CA
D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D000837:Anion Exchange Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange / Q000379:methods*; D004563:Electrochemistry; D005690:Galactose / Q000737:chemistry; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D008358:Mannose / Q000737:chemistry; D009005:Monosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods
D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D000837:Anion Exchange Resins; D009005:Monosaccharides; D008358:Mannose; D005690:Galactose