Volatile Organic Compounds in the Atmosphere

Every day, large quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)are emitted into the atmosphere from both anthropogenic and naturalsources. The formation of gaseous and particulate secondaryproducts caused by oxidation of VOCs is one of the largest unknownsin the quantitative prediction of the earth's climate on aregional and global scale, and on the understanding of local airquality. To be able to model and control their impact, it isessential to understand the sources of VOCs, their distribution inthe atmosphere and the chemical transformations which remove thesecompounds from the atmosphere. In recent years techniques for the analysis of organic compoundsin the atmosphere have been developed to increase the spectrum ofdetectable compounds and their detection limits. New methods havebeen introduced to increase the time resolution of thosemeasurements and to resolve more complex mixtures of organiccompounds. Volatile Organic Compounds in the Atmospheredescribes the current state of knowledge of the chemistry of VOCsas well as the methods and techniques to analyse gaseous andparticulate organic compounds in the atmosphere. The aim is toprovide an authoritative review to address the needs of bothgraduate students and active researchers in the field ofatmospheric chemistry research.