Polycyclic and nitro musks in indoor air: a primary school classroom and a womenÕs sport center Introduction Musks are organic compounds originally derived from animals or smell-emitting plants to use as fragrance in detergents, soaps, and other household and personal care products. The popularity of the musks as an ingredient in various products had resulted in the shortage of the natural supply, and the synthetic production of these compounds became inevitable. The worldwide production of synthetic musks shifted from nitro [musk xylene (MX), musk ketone (MK), musk moskene (MM), and musk tibettene (MT)] to polycyclic musks [tonalide (AHTN), galaxolide (HHCB), traseolide (ATII), celestolide (ADBI), phantolide (AHMI), and cashmeran (DPMI)] and increased in the amount of 1000 metric tons between the years 1987 and 1996 (Luckenbach and Epel, 2005) because of persistency, bioaccumulation potential, and potential toxicity of nitro musks. Salvito (2005) reported the use of polycyclic musks as 4000 tons in the year of 2000. Although no direct data could be obtained for Turkey, the use of synthetic musks may also be increased because detergent and soap produc- tion increased 40% and 16%, respectively, from 2002 to 2005 (Bektasoglu and Bektas, 2008). As a result of the increased demand and production of nice-smelling household and personal care products, the synthetic musks were detected in different environ- mental compartments and organisms. The first report of synthetic musk compounds in the environment was made by Yamagishi et al. (1981). Considerable con- centrations of MX and MK were found in biota and water samples. In 1990s, nitro musks were determined in fish and mussels in different locations, and for the Abstract Indoor air gas and particulate-phase samples (PM 2.5 ) were collected from a primary school classroom and a womenÕs sport center because children are one of the sensitive population subgroups and women are frequent users of personal care products in addition to the high level of activity in this specific microenvironment. PM 2.5 was collected with a Harvard impactor, and poly- urethane foam was used for the gas phase. Samples were ultrasonically extracted, concentrated, and analyzed with a GC-MS. The mean gas-phase concentrations in the classroom ranged from 0.12 ± 0.2 ng/m 3 for MK to 267 ± 56 ng/m 3 for HHCB, while it was from 0.08 ± 0.10 ng/m 3 for AHMI to 144 ± 61 ng/m 3 for HHCB in the sports center. Particulate-phase average concentrations in the sports center ranged from 0.22 ± 0.11 ng/m 3 for ATII to 1.34 ± 071 ng/m 3 for AHTN, while it ranged from 0.05 ± 0.02 ng/m 3 (musk xylene) to 2.50 ± 0.94 ng/m 3 (HHCB) in the classroom. Exposure–risk assessment showed that inhalation route is most probably far less significant than the dermal route; however, it should be noted that the exposure duration covered in this study was not the larger fraction of the day. A. Sofuoglu 1,2 , N. Kiymet 1 , P. Kavcar 1 , S. C. Sofuoglu 1,2 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, _ Izmir Institute of Technology, GülbahÅe, Izmir, Turkey, 2 Environmental Research Center, _ Izmir Institute of Technology, GülbahÅe, _ Izmir, Turkey Key words: Synthetic musks; Indoor air; Gas phase; Particulate phase; Inhalation exposure; _ Izmir. A. Sofuoglu Department of Chemical Engineering _ Izmir Institute of Technology, GülbahÅe Urla 35430 Izmir, Turkey Tel.: +90 232 750 6650 Fax: +90 232 750 6645 e-mail: aysunsofuoglu@iyte.edu.tr Received for review 11 February 2010. Accepted for publication 5 June 2010. Practical Implications Synthetic musk compounds (SMCs) are found everywhere because their use in household and personal care products (laundry detergents, carpet cleaners, cleaning agents, fabric softener soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, etc.) has been increasing. These compounds are semi-volatiles that may result in direct and indirect exposures through inhalation route. Although SMCs were found to be dominant in the gas phase, exposure via inhalable particles may be important as we found several compounds in the particulate phase (PM 2.5 ). Indoor Air 2010; 20: 515–522 www.blackwellpublishing.com/ina Printed in Singapore. All rights reserved Ó 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S INDOOR AIR doi:10.1111/j.1600-0668.2010.00674.x 515