Temporal variations of cyclic and linear volatile methylsiloxanes in the atmosphere using passive samplers and high-volume air samplers

Abstract

Cyclic and linear volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMSs and lVMSs, respectively) were measured in ambient air over a period of over one year in Toronto, Canada. Air samples were collected using passive air samplers (PAS) consisting of sorbent-impregnated polyurethane foam (SIP) disks in parallel with high volume active air samplers (HV-AAS). The average difference between the SIP-PAS derived concentrations in air for the individual VMSs and those measured using HV-AAS was within a factor of 2. The air concentrations (HV-AAS) ranged 22-351 ng m(-3) and 1.3-15 ng m(-3) for ΣcVMSs (D3, D4, D5, D6) and ΣlVMSs (L3, L4, L5), respectively, with decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) as the dominant compound (∼75% of the ΣVMSs). Air masses arriving from north to northwest (i.e., less populated areas) were significantly less contaminated with VMSs compared to air arriving from the south that are impacted by major urban and industrial areas in Canada and the U.S. (p < 0.05). In addition, air concentrations of ΣcVMSs were lower during major snowfall events (on average, 73 ng m(-3)) in comparison to the other sampling periods (121 ng m(-3)). Ambient temperature had a small influence on the seasonal trend of VMS concentrations in air, except for dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6), which was positively correlated with the ambient temperature (p < 0.001).