Multidimensional Analytical Characterization of Water-Soluble Organic Aerosols: Challenges and New Perspectives

Water-soluble organic aerosols (OA) are an important component of air particles and one of the key drivers that impact both climate and human health. Understanding the processes involving water-soluble OA depends on how well the chemical composition of this aerosol component is decoded. Yet, obtaini...

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Published inApplied sciences Vol. 11; no. 6; p. 2539
Main Authors Duarte, Regina M. B. O., Matos, João T. V., Duarte, Armando C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2021
Subjects
2D NMR spectroscopy
Aerosols
air particles
Atmosphere
Atmospheric aerosols
Atmospheric chemistry
Biomass
Chemical composition
Chemical reactions
EEM fluorescence spectroscopy
Emission analysis
Fluorescence
Fluorescence spectroscopy
High resolution
high-resolution mass spectrometry
Mass spectrometry
Mass spectroscopy
NMR
NMR spectroscopy
Nuclear magnetic resonance
organic aerosols
Physical properties
Scientific imaging
Spectroscopy
Volatility
Water chemistry
water-soluble organic matter
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Summary:Water-soluble organic aerosols (OA) are an important component of air particles and one of the key drivers that impact both climate and human health. Understanding the processes involving water-soluble OA depends on how well the chemical composition of this aerosol component is decoded. Yet, obtaining detailed information faces several challenges, including water-soluble OA collection, extraction, and chemical complexity. This review highlights the multidimensional non-targeted analytical strategies that have been developed and employed for providing new insights into the structural and molecular features of water-soluble organic components present in air particles. First, the most prominent high-resolution mass spectrometric methods for near real-time measurements of water-soluble OA and their limitations are discussed. Afterward, a special emphasis is given to the degree of compositional information provided by offline multidimensional analytical techniques, namely excitation–emission (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and their hyphenation with chromatographic systems. The major challenges ahead on the application of these multidimensional analytical strategies for OA research are also addressed so that they can be used advantageously in future studies.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app11062539