Characterization of water-soluble organic carbon in urban atmospheric aerosols using solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy

Solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been used to investigate the distribution of carbon functional groups in urban Atlanta aerosol fine (PM2.5) particles. Carbonaceous aerosol particles comprise a significant fraction of the ambient particle mass and are environmentally significant as they may influence radiative and cloud-nucleating properties and can also produce adverse health effects upon inhalation. The water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) fraction was extracted from multiple 24 h integrated high-volume quartz filter samples and further separated into recovered hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions using an approach similar to that used to extract humic and fulvic acids from aqueous samples. Solid-state 13C NMR results indicate that WSOC in urban atmospheric aerosol particles is mostly aliphatic in nature (approximately 95% by C mass) with major contributions from alkyl and oxygenated alkyls (approximately 80%), carboxylic acid (approximately 10%), and aromatic functional groups (approximately 4%). The aromatic C is associated with the recovered hydrophobic fraction of WSOC. These spectra have been compared to the 13C NMR results obtained from Suwannee River humic acid and a fractionated biomass burning sample. WSOC, and more importantly, its recovered hydrophobic fraction, is found to be only qualitatively similar to aqueous humic material. The biomass burning sample is significantly different from urban Atlanta WSOC and is composed of substantial amounts of sugar derivatives and phenolic compounds, as expected. The NMR results demonstrate the potential of this technique to investigate aerosol WSOC composition and to study its variations with changes in parameters such aerosol sources.