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Science 25 June 1976:
Vol. 192. no. 4246, pp. 1328 - 1330
DOI: 10.1126/science.192.4246.1328
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Articles

N-Nitroso Compounds: Detection in Ambient Air

D. H. FINE 1, D. P. ROUNBEHLER 1, N. M. BELCHER 1, and S. S. EPSTEIN 2

1 Thermo Electron Research Center, Waltham, Massachusetts 02154
2 Case Western Reserve University Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

By use of a new, highly selective detection technique for N-nitroso compounds, which is sensitive to picogram quantities and which is based on the catalytic cleavage of the N-NO bond and the subsequent detection of the nitrosyl radital, dimethylnitrosamine has been found in concentrations of 0.02 to 0.96 part per billion in three out of five air samples from Baltimore, Maryland, and 0.014 to 0.051 part per billion in five out of six air samples from Belle, West Virginia. The sensitivity of the analytical procedures used was 1 part in 1012. The presence of dimethylnitrosamine has been confirmed by using the new detector in conjunction with both a gas-liquid chromatograph and a high-performance liquid chromatograph. In addition, between one and three as yet unidentified N-nitroso compounds were detected in both cities. N-Nitroso compounds were not found in air samples from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Wilmington, Delaware; and Waltham, Massachusetts.

Submitted on November 4, 1975
Revised on March 8, 1976


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Neoplasia Induced in Male Rats Fed Lead Acetate, Ethyl Urea, and Sodium Nitrite.
L. D. Koller, N. I. Kerkvliet, and J. H. Exon (1985)
Toxicol Pathol 13, 50-57
   Abstract »    PDF »
N-nitroso compounds: evidence for their presence in airborne particles.
T. Kneip, J. Daisey, J. Solomon, and R. Hershman (1983)
Science 221, 1045-1047
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Quantitation of dimethylnitrosamine in the whole mouse after biosynthesis in vivo from trace levels of precursors.
D. Rounbehler, R Ross, D. Fine, Z. Iqbal, and S. Epstein (1977)
Science 197, 917-918
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