There were two analytical methods for the determination of 12 carbonyl compounds (CCs) by using liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and diode array detector (UV/DAD) that were developed and applied to 52 samples that were collected in 10 workplaces. Linearity (0.996 < R2 < 0.999), intra-day repeatability (0.7 < RSD% < 10), and inter-day repeatability (5 < RSD% < 16) were acceptable for both techniques, but the highest sensibility of the MS/MS method allowed us to correctly quantify 98% of the samples (versus 32% by UV/DAD). The comparison of the concentrations that were obtained by quantifying the same sample with both techniques showed good agreement for acetaldehyde and formaldehyde (0.1 < % deviation < 30) but much higher for the less abundant congeners. In real samples, formaldehyde was the most abundant congener (concentrations between 2.7 and 77 µg m-3), followed by acetaldehyde (concentrations between 1.5 and 79 µg m-3) and butyraldehyde (concentrations between 0.4 and 13 µg m-3). In all the beauty salon samples, instead, the most abundant congener was acetaldehyde (concentrations between 19 and 79 µg m-3), probably associated with the use of beauty products. Principal components analysis (PCA) confirms the ubiquitous character of formaldehyde and highlights the influence of minority CCs on different workplaces.
Keywords: airborne carbonyl compounds; airborne formaldehyde; analytical method; liquid chromatography; occupational exposure.