Ambiental volatile organic compounds in the megacity of São Paulo

In order to characterize the composition of the main urban air organic compounds in the megacity of Sao Paulo, analysis of samples collected during the winter of 2003 downtown was carried out. The samplings were performed on the roof of a building in the commercial center of São Paulo. Hydrocarbons and carbonyls compounds were collected on August 4, 5 and 6. Comparing to previous data, the concentration of hydrocarbons presented no decrease in the concentration, except for the aldehydes, which decreased when compared to previous data. Among the HCs species analyzed, the highest concentrations observed were those of toluene (7.5 ± 3.4 ppbv), n-decane (3.2 ± 2.0 ppbv), benzene (2.7 ± 1.4 ppbv) and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (2.2 ± 1.5 ppbv).