Determination of atmospheric hydroxyl radical by HPLC coupled with electrochemical detection.
The hydroxyl radical (*OH) plays a central role in the oxidation and removal of many atmospheric compounds. Measurement of atmospheric *OH is very difficult because of its high reactivity and low atmospheric abundance. In this article, a simple and highly sensitive method, high performance liquid chromatography coupled with coulometric detection (HPLC-CD), was developed to determine *OH indirectly by determining its reaction products with salicylic acid (SAL), 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,3-DHBA), and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,5-DHBA). Under the optimum conditions for its determination, 2,3-DHBA and 2,5-DHBA could be well separated and the detection limits for 2,3-DHBA were 3 x 10(-10) mol/L and for 2,5-DHBA were 1.5 x 10(-10) mol/L, which were lower than most previous reports. This method was also applied to measure atmospheric hydroxyl radical levels and demonstrated the feasibility in clean and polluted air.
Liu
Bin
B
College of Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ysliubing@gmail.com
Wang
Hui-Xiang
HX
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical / Q000032:analysis*
D000393:Air Pollutants; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical