Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) in Ambient Air Particulates (PM2.5, PM10, TSP) in Beijing

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), with the capacity to form smooth surfaces resisting water, oil, staining, etc., had been applied in a great variety of industrial productions such as paints, surfactants, coatings, emulsifiers, fire retardants, and polymers in the past several decades [1,2].PFCs can be released into the environment during the use and disposal of PFCs.Previous studies found that PFCs were detected in the atmosphere, water, soil environment, and biological organisms all over the world [3][4][5].The C-F bond makes the fluorocarbon chain extremely resistant to heat and chemical attack.Thus many PFCs are long-term persistence and potential hazards, i.e., toxic or bioaccumulated, in the environment [6].Up to now, only a few studies have examined PFCs in air.Barber et al. [7].found that PFC concentrations in air samples from northwest Europe were declining up to two orders of magnitude with decreasing degrees of urbanization.Dreyer and Ebinghaus [8] presented the distribution of PFCs in ambient air of the German North Sea and in the vicinity of Hamburg.The results showed that average total PFC concentrations in and around Hamburg (180 pg/m 3 ) were higher than those observed in the German Bight (80 pg/m 3 ).Recently, some attention has been paid to ambient air particulates, because they play important roles in many environmental processes [9,10].Murakami and Takada [11] investigated perfluorinated surfactants in