Non-polar volatile organic compounds in whole air samples from the AutoEx studies

Air samples were captured in SUMMA polished stainless steel canisters and returned to the laboratory for analysis of trace level volatile organic compounds by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. Sampling was performed over 2-hour periods at various distances from heavily traveled highways in three cooperative studies between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. as a part of the AutoEx series of experiments. The paper discusses the canister work performed in two of these studies, AutoEx-2 near Leningrad, U.S.S.R. and AutoEx-3 near Vilnius, Lithuania, U.S.S.R. Data are presented from these experiments and the sampling and analytical methodology is discussed. AutoEx results are compared to analogous studies performed in the U.S.