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. 1994 Oct;102(Suppl 4):117–126. doi: 10.1289/ehp.94102s4117

Atmospheric chemistry of gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: formation of atmospheric mutagens.

R Atkinson 1, J Arey 1
PMCID: PMC1566940  PMID: 7821285

Abstract

The atmospheric chemistry of the 2- to 4-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which exist mainly in the gas phase in the atmosphere, is discussed. The dominant loss process for the gas-phase PAH is by reaction with the hydroxyl radical, resulting in calculated lifetimes in the atmosphere of generally less than one day. The hydroxyl (OH) radical-initiated reactions and nitrate (NO3) radical-initiated reactions often lead to the formation of mutagenic nitro-PAH and other nitropolycyclic aromatic compounds, including nitrodibenzopyranones. These atmospheric reactions have a significant effect on ambient mutagenic activity, indicating that health risk assessments of combustion emissions should include atmospheric transformation products.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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