Isomer-specific detection of azaarenes in environmental samples by Shpolʹskii luminescence spectroscopy

An isomer-specific detection method based on Shpolʹskii spectroscopy, a cryogenic high-resolution luminescence technique, has been developed to enable determination of nitrogen-containing in-ring substituted polycyclic aromatic compounds in environmental samples. Using conventional lamp excitation in combination with fluorescence and phosphorescence emission, a number of individual benzo- and dibenzacridines as well as 1-azapyrene have been unambiguously identified and quantitatively determined in river and lake sediment samples collected from selected sites in The Netherlands. The limits of detection observed for the examined aza–PACs are in the 10–100 picogram range.