title: Separation of PAHs in aerosol by thin layer chromatography for compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis.
abstract: A method using a thin layer chromatography (TLC) for compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with four to seven rings was developed in this study. Five aerosol samples were used as test samples. Two stationary phases and eight developing systems were tested. The results indicated: (1) silica gel is superior to aluminum oxide and the silica gel precoated plate developed with hexane:chloroform (45:5, v/v) can give the best separation effect; (2) individual PAHs associated with aerosols can be effectively separated from unresolved complex mixture (UCM) by this procedure. The carbon isotope composition of PAHs can be measured with a standard deviation (S.D.)<0.5 per thousand, n=4. No significant isotopic fractionation was observed during the TLC procedure. And this technique can be used as a potential tool for source identification of PAHs in the aerosols.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resource, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xinhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.forename: Bixian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.forename: Guoying
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: Jiamo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu