Atmospheric Environment 36 (2002) 247–254 Concentrations of PAHs in atmospheric particles (PM-10) and roadside soil particles collected in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Nasr Yousef M.J. Omar a , M. Radzi Bin Abas a, *, Kamal Aziz Ketuly a , Norhayati Mohd. Tahir b a Department of Chemistry, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia b Institute of Oceanography, Kolej Universiti Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia Received 27 April 2001; received in revised form 3 August 2001; accepted 12 August 2001 Abstract The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in atmospheric particles and roadside soil particles were measured at eight locations in the city center and the suburb of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Atmospheric particles were collected using high-volume PM-10 sampler on glass fiber filters over 24 h average sampling period. Both types of samples were extracted with dichloromethane by ultrasonic agitation. The extracts were then fractionated on an alumina–silica column and the aromatic fraction was subjected to gas chromatography–mass spectrometric (GC–MS) analysis. Total PAH concentrations in the atmospheric particles and roadside soil particles were found to be 6.2874.35 ng m 3 and 0.2270.11 mgg 1 , respectively. Benzo[g,h,i]perylene and coronene were found to be the most abundant PAHs in airborne particles at all locations. The most abundant PAHs in the roadside soil particles were fluoranthene, pyrene and phenanthrene. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Air pollution; Particulate matter; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Vehicular emissions 1. Introduction Sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban atmosphere include automobiles, re-suspended soils, refineries and power plants. However, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, the most important source of PAHs is expected to be vehicular emissions since motor vehicles contributed as much as 73.8% of air pollutants in Malaysia (DOE Malaysia, 1998). As of November 2000 there were 2.2 million motor vehicles in Kuala Lumpur (Ishak, 2001). There are also other important potential sources of PAHs that do not arise from fossil fuels, namely combustion of domestic and garden waste in largely uncontrolled situations (DOE Malaysia, 1998) and, on occasions, smoke from regional forest fires (smoke–haze episodes). The latter, although very intermittent in nature can have a very marked effect on air quality for periods of a few weeks or even a few months (Fang et al., 1999; Muraleedharan et al., 2000). For example, the PAH concentrations recorded in Kuala Lumpur during the smoke–haze of 1997 were almost five times higher than that recorded on clear days (Fang et al., 1999). PAHs from combustion sources are ubiquitous in the global environment and are typically more concentrated near urban centers. Due to their mutagenic and carcinogenic potential the atmospheric concentrations of PAHs in many geographical locations of the world have been measured and reported, e.g. Los Angeles, USA (Gordon and Bryan, 1973), Massachusetts, USA (Allen, et al., 1996), Ontario, Canada (Katz et al., 1978), Athens, Greece (Viras et al., 1987), Antarctica (Car- icchia et al., 1993), Lahore, Pakistan (Smith et al., 1996) and Mumbai, India (Kulkarni and Venkataraman, 2000). However, there is still very little information *Corresponding author. Fax: +60-3-7967-4193. E-mail address: radzi@kimia.um.edu.my (M.R.B. Abas). 1352-2310/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S1352-2310(01)00425-3