School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University , West Campus, 4701 West Thunderbird Road, Glendale, Arizona 85306, United States.
Environ Sci Technol. 2014;48(15):8507-13. doi: 10.1021/es5014533. Epub 2014 Jul 14.
Acrolein (2-propenal) is a reactive chemical that is very toxic and has many sources. Acrolein is commonly detected in the atmosphere, but understanding the ambient concentrations of this compound has been hampered by analytical difficulties. The objective of this research was to utilize an analytical method specifically designed for acrolein to determine acrolein concentrations in remote regions. The purpose was to determine the natural background concentrations of acrolein which were simply lacking in the literature. In addition, rural and urban areas were sampled to determine the degree of anthropogenic enrichment in polluted environments. The results from the coastal and remote inland areas suggest that the median natural summertime background of acrolein was near 40 ng/m(3), which was higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's Reference Concentration (RfC) of 20 ng/m(3). Acrolein concentrations in urban areas were approximately 3- to 8-fold higher than background concentrations, which was a lower degree of urban enrichment than expected. The results suggest that additional research is needed to understand the natural background concentrations of acrolein.
丙烯醛（2-丙烯醛）是一种具有高反应性的化学物质，毒性很强，来源很多。丙烯醛通常存在于大气中，但由于分析上的困难，对其环境浓度的了解受到阻碍。本研究的目的是利用专门为丙烯醛设计的分析方法来测定偏远地区的丙烯醛浓度。目的是确定文献中尚未涉及的丙烯醛的自然本底浓度。此外，还对农村和城市地区进行了采样，以确定在污染环境中人为富集的程度。沿海和偏远内陆地区的结果表明，夏季自然背景下丙烯醛的中位数接近 40ng/m(3)，高于美国环保署的 20ng/m(3)参考浓度（RfC）。城市地区的丙烯醛浓度比本底浓度高约 3 至 8 倍，其城市富集程度低于预期。结果表明，需要进一步研究以了解丙烯醛的自然本底浓度。
