2025/06/05 by Daniel John Katz, Bri Dobson, Mitchell W. Alton +4 · 2 voices
Environmental Science · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact #Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols #Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acsenvironau.5c00038
openalex publication_date 2025/06/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are synthetic polychlorinated n -alkanes produced as mixtures of a range of C x Cl y H 2 x – y +2 formulas. CPs have numerous industrial applications but are toxic, long-lived, and environmentally ubiquitous with environmental releases occurring throughout their production, use, and disposal. Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs, C 10–13 ) have been regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency since 2009 and by the Stockholm Convention since 2017. SCCP regulation is expected to cause increased production of medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs; C 14–17 ), which are currently under consideration for Stockholm Convention regulations. Thus, there is a need to improve the understanding of MCCP environmental transport, distribution, and fate. Existing measurements are limited in their spatial and temporal coverage. Measurements of CP atmospheric loading are particularly scarce. Historically, these measurements have required long sampling times, obscuring the temporal behavior of atmospheric CPs. We report real-time in situ measurements of 18 gas-phase MCCPs. These measurements were made in the United States Southern Great Plains with nitrate ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry (NO 3 –CIMS). The estimated average lower-limit concentration of MCCPs is on the order of single-digit ng/m 3 . MCCP diel behavior is partially explained by gas-particle partitioning with implications for MCCP transport and lifetimes.