Measurement of various polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the urban area of Naples]

In order to investigate the organic compound fraction of the Naples aerosol a chromatographic method was used for the separation and analysis of the polycyclic aromatic (PAH). As a first step a suitable one-step thin-layer chromatography (TLC) separation of the cyclohexane extractable material from airborne particulate was sought. After the TLC separation the concentrated samples were analyzed by reverse-phase liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. We obtained chromatographic separation of five PAH on the EPA Priority Pollutant List and we determined the concentration of these PAHs present in atmospheric matter.