Assessment by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry of hexenes emitted to air

Journal article, 1993

Hexenes and cyclohexenes in vapours of conventional petrol were separated by gas chromatography on an aluminium oxide column. All hexenes appear in a favourable chromatographic position between hexanes and heptanes. The seventeen isomeric acyclic hexenes were identified by mass spectra and single-ion monitoring on an ion-trap mass spectrometer. The rapidly photooxidant-forming isomers with a non-terminal double bond constitute 70% of the total amount of acyclic hexenes. The proportions of isomers in petrol vapour are similar to those in urban air and in exhaust from petrol-fuelled vehicles.