Chemical imaging for PAH analysis in particulate materials

Chemical imaging is a new analytical science, related to a combination of s patial and chemical resolutions. Several new chemical imaging tools have be en developed and applied to environmental analysis. The advantages of such methods, which provide simultaneous morphological/geometrical and chemical speciation, are pointed out and exemplified in several environmental analyt ical applications. These include fast analysis of PAH contaminated aerosols at low concentrations, analysis of contaminated quartz sand particles, as well as improvement of laser induced fluorescence detection of PAH compound s in natural water, in the presence of various microparticles. It is shown that chemical imaging has a considerable potential in environmental applica tions and can provide detailed and unique information when particulate mate rials are concerned.