Original Article | 2005, Vol.27, No.4, pp. 877-888
Orange jasmine leaves as an indicator of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Benjalak Karnchanasest and Arpapan Satayavibul
pp. 877 - 888
Abstract
Sorption of atmospheric PAHs in orange jasmine leaves, Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack and the potential of leaves to indicate atmospheric PAHs were investigated. Partitioning experiments between leaves and water were conducted to determine the partition coefficients of the compounds between the leaves and the water. The leaf samples were collected on 4 Bangkok roadsides, where the air samples were measured for 24 h using high volume, to analyze 16 PAHs. The actual measured PAH concentrations were compared to atmospheric concentrations calculated from the leaf/air partition coefficients and PAH leaf concentrations. It was found that they were well related as indicated by correlation coefficient (r2) > 0.70, particularly low molecular weight (MW) PAHs, which were ACY, ACE, FLU, PHE and ANT. This was because low MW PAHs were mostly present in gas phase, which played a major role in leaf sorption. Therefore, high MW PAHs, existing mainly in particulate phase, exhibited lower correlation coefficient (r2 < 0.60).
