Diversity and Abundance of High-Molecular-Weight Azaarenes in PAH-Contaminated Environmental Samples.

ABSTRACT: Azaarenes are N-heterocyclic polyaromatic pollutants that co-occur with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in contaminated soils. Despite the known toxicity of some high-molecular-weight azaarenes, their diversity, abundance, and fate in contaminated soils remain to be elucidated. We applied high-resolution mass spectrometry and mass-defect filtering to four PAH-contaminated samples from geographically distant sites and detected 232 azaarene congeners distributed in eight homologous series, including alkylated derivatives and two hitherto unknown series. Four- and five-ring azaarenes were detected among these series, and the most abundant nonalkylated congeners groups (C₁₃H₉N, C₁₅H₉N, C₁₇H₁₁N, C₁₉H₁₁

SUBMITTER: Tian Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6343503 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature