Non-targeted screening of volatile organic compounds in a museum in China Using GC-Orbitrap mass spectrometry

Li Ding; Luyang Wang; Luying Nian; Ming Tang; Rui Yuan; Anmei Shi; Meng Shi; Ying Han; Min Liu; Yinping Zhang; Ying Xu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155277

Non-targeted screening of volatile organic compounds in a museum in China Using GC-Orbitrap mass spectrometry

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Aug 20:835:155277. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155277. Epub 2022 Apr 18.

Authors

Li Ding¹, Luyang Wang², Luying Nian², Ming Tang¹, Rui Yuan², Anmei Shi¹, Meng Shi², Ying Han¹, Min Liu¹, Yinping Zhang², Ying Xu³

Affiliations

¹ National Museum of China, Beijing, China.
² Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Beijing, China; Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA. Electronic address: xu-ying@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.

PMID: 35447177
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155277

Abstract

Non-targeted analysis (NTA) was used in identifying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a museum in China with the gas chromatograph (GC)-Orbitrap-mass spectrometer (MS). Approximately 230 VOCs were detected, of which 117 were observed at 100% frequency across all sampling sites. Although some were common in indoor environments, most of the detected VOCs were rarely reported in previous studies on museum environments. Some of the detected VOCs were found to be associated with the materials used in furnishings and the chemicals applied in conservation treatment. Spearman's correlation analysis showed that several classes of VOCs were well correlated, suggesting their common sources. Compared with compounds in outdoor air, indoor VOCs had a lower level of unsaturation and more portions of chemically reduced compounds. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were performed. The results suggested that the sampling adsorbents chosen may have a large impact and that a single type of adsorbent may not be sufficient to cover a wide range of compounds in NTA studies. The MonoTrap adsorbent containing octadecylsilane (ODS) and activated carbon (AC) is suitable for aliphatic polar compounds that contain low levels of oxygen, whereas the MonoTrap ODS and silica gel are good at sampling aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons with limited polarity. Principle component analysis (PCA) showed that the indoor VOCs changed significantly at different times in the museum; this may have been caused by the removal of artifacts and refurbishment of the gallery between sampling events. A comparison with compounds identified by chamber emission tests showed that decorative materials may have been one of the main sources of indoor VOCs in the museum. The VOCs identified in the present study are likely to be present in other similar museums; therefore, further examination may be warranted of their potential impacts on cultural heritage artifacts, museum personnel, and visitors.

Keywords: Air pollutants; Cultural heritage conservation; Museum environment; Non-target screening with high-resolution mass spectrometry; Volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution, Indoor* / analysis
China
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Museums
Volatile Organic Compounds* / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Volatile Organic Compounds