Abstract
An analytical method has been developed to determine long-chain n-alkan-2-ones (C10–C33) in atmospheric particulate matter. This involves (1) solvent extraction with a Dionex Accelerated Solvent Extractor (ASE 200), followed by nitrogen blowdown; (2) a clean-up procedure using silica-gel chromatography to separate fractions of different polarities; and (3) gas chromatography with mass-selective detector (GC/MSD) identification and gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC/FID) quantitation. The recovery rates in the extraction/blowdown steps were quantified at different extraction and blowdown temperatures. The maximum recoveries for the selected ketones, obtained at 40°C for both extraction and blowdown, are 70–100% for the extraction step and 92–101% for the combined steps of blowdown and silica gel separation depending on the chain length of the ketones. The overall analytical instrumental detection limits for the ketones are <0.24 ng/µL in the GC/FID.

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