LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE OF PYRENE AND OTHER POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS (PAH) IN SEAWATER

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the marine environment are c urrently of great concern due to their potential carcinogenicity. The standard methods of defection and quantification of PAH in seawater an d sediments are costly, time-consuming and do not account for the hete rogeneous nature of their distribution and sources. Laser-induced, tim e-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy may help to overcome these limita tions. Several PAH have relatively long-lived stimulated fluorescence emissions, which allow them to be detected among a background of more intense but shorter-lived chromophores. Using time-delayed techniques we have shown an ability to detect PAH, principally pyrene, at environ mental levels (ng 1(-1)) both in the laboratory and in situ in Boston Harbor and other study areas. Further development may lead to the rapi d determination of several PAH in typical near-shore marine environmen ts. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.