The Solubility Characteristics of Organic Compounds in Urban Aerosol Samples

The solubility characteristics of organic compounds were studied in terms of the extraction efficiency as a function of the polarity of the organic solvent, and the acidity of water in urban aerosol samples collected in University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, England. The extraction efficiency of organic compounds were evaluated with respect to the organic carbon, -nitrogen and -hydrogen by means of a wide range of solvent which include polar and nonpolar organic solvents as well as acids and alkaline water. In addition, after being dissolved in aqueous solution, the aqueous chemistry of organic compounds were studied in terms of the organic metal complexes in aerosol, which were studied with oxalic acid, copper, and zinc. The results of this study indicate that solubility characteristics of organic compounds depend on the polarity of the solvents and the acidity of the solvents. In particular, some organic compounds are water soluble, even though they are much smaller than acetone soluble fractions. In the comparison between polar organic solvent extraction and non- polar organic solvent extraction, it can be thought that significant fraction of organic compounds analysed in the aerosol samples, are polar organic compounds because of the higher extraction efficiencies of organic compounds in polar organic solvent extraction than in nonpolar organic solvent extraction. Regarding the study of the oxalic -metal complexes, it can be thought that most oxalic acids are present in the form of oxalic -copper complexes in the aerosols collected at UEA.