Caroline Bergh

Publications (3)8.56 Total impact

• Article: Organophosphate and phthalate esters in standard reference material 2585 organic contaminants in house dust.

  Caroline Bergh, Giovanna Luongo, Stephen Wise, Conny Ostman
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  ABSTRACT: The levels of 22 phthalate diesters (phthalates) and organophosphate triesters (organophosphates) have been investigated in standard reference material 2585 (SRM 2585) "organic contaminants in house dust." Ultrasonic-assisted solvent extraction and solid-phase extraction on a Florisil adsorbent were used as the extraction and cleanup steps combined with analysis using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in positive ion chemical ionization mode. Seven phthalates were detected in the concentration range 1-570 μg/g. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate was the major phthalate present at 570 μg/g. Ten organophosphates were detected in SRM 2585. Tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate was the predominant organophosphate at 82 μg/g, and nine organophosphates were determined at concentrations ranging from 0.19 to 2.3 μg/g. Five organophosphates were below the method detection limit, of which two were in level with the procedural blank. The applied extraction and cleanup method was evaluated for the analysis of SRM 2585. The extraction yield was ≥99%, except for tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (97%) and diethyl phthalate (98.5%). The problem of calibration curvature is addressed, and it is shown that the use of deuterated standards improves the analysis. The concentrations of ten organophosphate esters were determined in SRM 2585, and seven of these were compared with existing data. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the levels of the seven phthalates esters in SRM 2585 "organic contaminants in house dust."
  Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 11/2011; 402(1):51-9. · 3.78 Impact Factor
• Article: Organophosphate and phthalate esters in indoor air: a comparison between multi-storey buildings with high and low prevalence of sick building symptoms.

  Caroline Bergh, K Magnus Åberg, Magnus Svartengren, Gunnel Emenius, Conny Östman
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  ABSTRACT: An extensive study has been conducted on the prevalence of organophosphorous flame retardants/plasticizers and phthalate ester plasticizers in indoor air. The targeted substances were measured in 45 multi-storey apartment buildings in Stockholm, Sweden. The apartment buildings were classified as high or low risk with regard to the reporting of sick building symptoms (SBS) within the project Healthy Sustainable Houses in Stockholm (3H). Air samples were taken from two to four apartments per building (in total 169 apartments) to facilitate comparison within and between buildings. Association with building characteristics has been examined as well as association with specific sources by combining chemical analysis and exploratory uni- and multivariate data analysis. The study contributes to the overall perspective of levels of organophosphate and phthalate ester in indoor air enabling comparison with other studies. The results indicated little or no difference in the concentrations of the target substances between the two risk classifications of the buildings. The differences between the apartments sampled within (intra) buildings were greater than the differences between (inter) buildings. The concentrations measured in air ranged up to 1200 ng m(-3) for organophosphate esters and up to 11 000 ng m(-3) for phthalate esters. Results in terms of sources were discerned e.g. PVC flooring is a major source of benzylbutyl phthalate in indoor air.
  Journal of Environmental Monitoring 05/2011; 13(7):2001-9. · 1.99 Impact Factor
• Article: Simultaneous selective detection of organophosphate and phthalate esters using gas chromatography with positive ion chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry and its application to indoor air and dust.

  Caroline Bergh, Ralf Torgrip, Conny Ostman
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  ABSTRACT: A selective and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of 14 organophosphate and six phthalate esters using gas chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry (MS) is presented. Both of these compound classes are frequently found in the indoor environment due to their use as bulk additives in numerous polymers, consumer products and building materials. GC/MS utilizing positive ion chemical ionisation (PICI) in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode with isobutane as the reagent gas was found to be the best of the tested methods; it proved superior to electron ionisation (EI) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode and to PICI using methane as the reagent gas. The method was applied to indoor air samples collected by active air sampling using solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges. Organophosphates and phthalates were simultaneously determined with method detection limits (MDLs) in the range of 0.1-47 ng m(-3). For most compounds the MDLs were ≤0.2 ng m(-3), but due to the presence of some of these ubiquitous indoor air pollutants in the blanks, significantly higher MDLs were observed for a few compounds. Finally, the method was also applied in the screening of a much more complex sample matrix, indoor dust.
  Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 10/2010; 24(19):2859-67. · 2.79 Impact Factor