Atmospheric chemistry of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and related compounds

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic compounds are ubiquitous atmospheric pollutants with toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic properties. They are produced from chemical reactions of their parent compounds in the atmosphere as well as from a wide variety of anthropogenic sources such as fuel combustions. The present review is mainly concerned with several reaction pathways regarding secondary formation of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) derivatives, i.e., formation of mutagenic nitrated PAHs, 1- and 2-nitrotriphenylene, via gas-phase OH or NO3 radical-initiated reactions of the parent triphenylene, atmospheric formation of hydroxynitropyrenes from a photochemical reaction of 1-nitropyrene, and photochemical degradation of selected nitrated and oxygenated PAHs on airborne particles under simulated solar UV-irradiation.