# Chemical Characterization of Volatile Organic Emissions from Complex Environmental Mixtures

> **NIH NIH P42** · TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $15,150

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Complex environmental substances pose risks to human, animal, and environmental welfare in the event of
natural or manmade disasters. No two disasters are alike: contaminants vary in composition and source, and
disaster sites vary in location, rate of spreading, weathering, climate, and ecosystem. Such factors contribute to
the complexity of environmental pollutants, yielding intricate mixtures of unpredictable composition. Mitigation of
hazards posed by these complex mixtures is therefore of the utmost importance, as the health of afflicted
communities and first responders is dependent upon characterization of environmental hazards through
analytical techniques. Extensive recent research identified polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) to be
representative environmental contaminants. PAC can be used as a proxy for complex mixtures because they
are ubiquitously persistent, can be characterized by traditional analytical instrumentation, and are structurally
similar compounds. Analytical fingerprinting techniques (GC-MS variants, GC-FID, FT-ICR MS, etc.) and
computational practices have considerably advanced our understanding of environmental pollutants, including
PAC; still, a substantial fraction of these compounds and detailed molecular identification of constituents remain
challenging to decipher. Therefore, this overall project is focused on the development of an analytical-to-in vitro
approach to comprehensively characterize PAC in environmental samples collected from disaster scenarios.
The aims to accomplish this are three-fold: first, we will conduct untargeted chemical analysis of several hundred
environmental samples using rapid, untargeted ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS), focusing
on the PAC fraction as a basis to comprehensively identify individual molecular constituents. Second, the effect
of environmental weathering on the chemical composition and bioactivity of complex mixtures over time will be
evaluated by a case study modeling a complex chemical spill in the environment. Finally, we will test the
relevance and reliability of various scaled-down passive dosing methods to enable both in vitro toxicity testing of
complex substances and complete characterization of the bioactive fraction. To supplement this research, we
propose an externship at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to explore additional analytical characterization
of the airborne fraction of PAC in complex mixtures. Longwave-infrared (LWIR) imaging, a technique that has
been pioneered at LANL, enables visualization of gaseous emissions from concentrated sources, including city-
wide emissions, field plumes, and most relevant to this research, volatile, airborne chemicals that may be
released during disaster events. With this analytical approach, individual volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
identified thus far have been collected into a spectral library of approximately 700 constituents. By collaboration
with LANL, we aim to characterize th...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10381862
- **Project number:** 3P42ES027704-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ivan Rusyn
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $15,150
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-09-19

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10381862

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10381862, Chemical Characterization of Volatile Organic Emissions from Complex Environmental Mixtures (3P42ES027704-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10381862. Licensed CC0.

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