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Saccharides are omnipresent compounds in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Since the 2000s, their role in environmental and geochemical studies has significantly increased, but only anhydrosaccharides (mainly levoglucosan) have been reviewed. Here we present the wider knowledge about saccharides in organic matter of aerosols, bottom sediments, soils, dust, and sedimentary rocks. The main purpose here is to characterize the possible sources of saccharides, as well as sacharol formation, seasonal variability, and the possible applications in environmental and paleoenvironmental interpretations. Different saccharide sources were designated, including biomass burning, and particulate matter such as pollen, spores, lichen, and fungi, as well as polysaccharide decomposition as possible inputs of monosaccharides. The main focus was on the most common saccharides encountered in environmental samples and sedimentary rocks. These are the mono- and disaccharides glucose, fructose, sucrose, and trehalose, and sacharols arabitol and mannitol. The anhydrosaccharides levoglucosan, mannosan, and galactosan were evaluated as ancient wildfire indicators and industrialization tracers found in lacustrine sediments starting from Pleistocene to contemporary deposits. However, other anhydrosaccharides like xylosan and arabinosan were also found as products of fossil wood burning. These anhydrosaccharides have the potential to be further tracers of hemicellulose burning. Additional recommendations are proposed for future research, including environmental and paleoenvironmental topics that need to be addressed., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Levoglucosan, an anhydrosaccharide, is commonly used as an organic tracer for biomass burning, but has also been identified from coal smoke particulate matter (PM) including lignites. Here we showed that stable carbon isotope analysis specifically of levoglucosan may be one possible way to determine the relative contributions from coal combustion versus biomass burning sources. PM samples were collected from low-temperature burning/smoldering of Miocene lignites from Poland and basket willow (Salix viminalis L.) representative of biomass. The calculated levoglucosan δ 13 C values of xylites varied from -23.6 to -21.6‰, while for detritic coal samples they ranged from -24.2 to -23.1‰, with means of -22.7 and -23.7‰, respectively. The calculated levoglucosan δ 13 C value of basket willow wood was -27.1‰. Values of willow wood mixtures with xylite varied from -25.8 to -23.4‰ (with an increasing proportion of xylite), while values of mixtures of willow and detritic coal ranged from -26.9 to -24.6‰ (with an increasing proportion of detritic coal). The δ 13 C values for the mixtures changed proportionally to the contents of individual components with R 2  = 0.88 and 0.89 for willow with xylite and detritic coal, respectively. The hopanoid distributions characteristic for low-temperature lignite/peat burning, with a predominance of 22R-α,β-homohopane, ββ-hopanes and hopenes, as well as low or very low values of the homohopane index, were observed in smoke PM from most lignite samples and absent in the basket willow sample. Thus, the relatively high content of hopanes (with the occurrence of 22R-α,β-homohopane, ββ-hopanes and hopenes) in atmospheric PM samples can be treated as additional tracers of lignite combustion., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In an effort to assess the occurrence and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the ambient air of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, PM10 samples were collected during December 2010. Diagnostic PAH concentration ratios were used as a tool to identify and characterize the PAH sources. The results reflect high PM10 and PAH concentrations (particulate matter (PM) = 270-1,270 μg/m(3)). The corresponding average PAH concentrations were in the range of 18 ± 8 to 1,003 ± 597 ng/m(3) and the total concentrations (total PAHs (TPAHs) of 17 compounds) varied from 1,383 to 13,470 ng/m(3) with an average of 5,871 ± 2,830 ng/m(3). The detection and quantification limits were 1-3 and 1-10 ng/ml, respectively, with a recovery range of 42-80%. The ratio of the sum of the concentrations of the nine major non-alkylated compounds to the total (CPAHs/TPAHs) was 0.87 ± 0.10, and other ratios were determined to apportion the PM sources. The PAHs found are characteristic for emissions from traffic with diesel being a predominant source.

Biomass burning is an important primary source of particles containing biomarker compounds, which are introduced into smoke primarily by direct volatilization/steam stripping and by thermal alteration based on combustion conditions. This study presents comprehensive organic compound source profiles for smoke from controlled burning of green vegetation native to the predominant temperate and semiarid forests of the western United States. Smoke particles were extracted with dichloromethane/methanol (2:1, v/v), and the extracts were analyzed as their TMS derivatives by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Carbohydrates were by far the major compound class emitted in smoke particles, encompassing 57-77% of the total extractable organic compounds detected here. Lignin derivatives (5-17%) and diterpenoids (up to 16%) from bleed resins were the next most abundant compound groups observed. The major individual compounds encompassed methyl-inositols (up to 41%, e.g., pinitol) for conifer smokes, deoxy-inositols (up to 32%, e.g., quercitol) for samples containing oak vegetation, and the thermally altered product of cellulose combustion levoglucosan (14-21%). The remaining compound classes, i.e., n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanols, n-alkanes, triterpenoids, steroids, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were present at lower abundances (mostly < 5%). The results showed that burning of green (moist) vegetation imprints high amounts of polar/ water-soluble compounds into the smoke probably by volatilization/steam stripping processes, resulting in a different biomarker profile compared to dry/dead vegetation and wood combustion emissions.

Source tests were conducted to analyze and characterize diagnostic key tracers for emissions from burning of coals with various ranks. Ambient aerosol particulate matter was also collected in three areas of China and a background area in Corvallis, OR (U.S.) to confirm the presence of tracers specific for coal smoke. The results showed a series of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds, including PAHs and hydroxy-PAHs as the major tracers, as well as a significant unresolved complex mixture (UCM) of compounds. The tracers that were found characteristic of coal combustion processes included hydroxy-PAHs and PAHs. Atmospheric ambient samples from Beijing and Taiyuan, cities where coal is burned in northern China, revealed that the hydroxy-PAH tracers were present during the wintertime, but not in cities where coal is not commonly used (e.g., Guangzhou, South China). Thus, the mass of hydroxy-PAHs can be apportioned to coal smoke and the source strength modeled by summing the proportional contents of EC (elemental carbon), PAHs, UCM and alkanes with the hydroxy-PAHs.

Despite all of the economic problems and environmental discussions on the dangers and hazards of plastic materials, plastic production worldwide is growing at a rate of about 5% per year. Increasing techniques for recycling polymeric materials have been developed during the last few years; however, a large fraction of plastics are still being discarded in landfills or subjected to intentional or incidental open-fire burning. To identify specific tracer compounds generated during such open-fire combustion, both smoke particles from burning and plastic materials from shopping bags, roadside trash, and landfill garbage were extracted for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses. Samples were collected in Concón, Chile, an area frequently affected by wildfire incidents and garbage burning, and the United States for comparison. Atmospheric samples from various aerosol sampling programs are also presented as supportive data. The major components of plastic extracts were even-carbon-chain n-alkanes (C16-C40), the plasticizer di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, and the antioxidants and lubricants/antiadhesives Irganox 1076, Irgafos 168, and its oxidation product tris(2,4-di-tertbutylphenyl) phosphate. Major compounds in smoke from burning plastics include the non-source-specific n-alkanes (mainly even predominance), terephthalic acid, phthalates, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, with minor amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (including triphenylbenzenes) and tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl)phosphate. 1,3,5-Triphenylbenzene and tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl)- phosphate were found in detectable amounts in atmospheric samples where plastics and refuse were burned in open fires, and thus we propose these two compounds as specific tracers for the open-burning of plastics.

The presence of saccharides is being reported for aerosols taken in urban, rural, and marine locales. The commonly found primary saccharides are alpha- and beta-glucose, alpha- and beta-fructose, sucrose, and mycose with lesser amounts of other monosaccharides. Saccharide polyols are also found in some airsheds and consist mainly of sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, erythritol, and glycerol. In temperate climate areas these compounds increase from negligible concentrations in winter aerosols (usually dominated by levoglucosan and related anhydrosaccharides from biomass burning) to a maximum in late spring-summer, followed by a decrease to winter. The composition of the saccharide mixtures suggests soil and associated microbiota as the source. Saccharide analyses of soils confirmed these compositions. Therefore, we propose resuspension of soil (also unpaved road dust) from agricultural activities as a major component of aerosol particles and the saccharides are the source specific tracers. In addition, the saccharides as well as the anhydrosaccharide derivatives from biomass burning are completely water soluble and thus contribute significantly to the total water-soluble mass of aerosols.

The fireplace combustion of wood is a significant and largely unregulated source of fine particle pollution in the United States. Source apportionment techniques that use particulate organic compounds as tracers have been successful in determining the contribution of wood smoke to ambient fine particle levels in specific areas in California. To apply these techniques to the rest of the United States, the differences in emissions profiles between different wood smoke sources and fuel types should be resolved. To this end, a series of fireplace source tests was conducted on six fuel wood species found in the Southern United States to determine fine particulate emission factors for total mass, ionic and elemental species, elemental and organic carbon, and over 250 individual organic compounds. The wood species tested, chosen for their high abundance and availability in the Southern U.S. region, were yellow poplar, white ash, sweetgum, mockernut hickory, loblolly pine, and slash pine. The differences in the emissions of compounds such as substituted phenols and resin acids help to distinguish between the smoke from hardwood and softwood combustion. Levoglucosan, a cellulose pyrolysis product which may serve as a tracer for wood smoke in general, was quantified in the emissions from all the wood species burned. The furofuran lignan, yangambin, which was emitted in significant quantities from yellow poplar combustion and not detected in any of the other North American wood smokes, is a potential species-specific molecular tracer which may be useful in qualitatively identifying particulate emissions from a specific geographical area where yellow poplar is being burned.

Gas- and particle-phase organic compounds present in the tailpipe emissions from an in-use fleet of gasoline-powered automobiles and light-duty trucks were quantified using a two-stage dilution source sampling system. The vehicles were driven through the cold-start Federal Test Procedure (FTP) urban driving cycle on a transient dynamometer. Emission rates of 66 volatile hydrocarbons, 96 semi-volatile and particle-phase organic compounds, 27 carbonyls, and fine particle mass and chemical composition were quantified. Six isoprenoids and two tricyclic terpanes, which are quantified using new source sampling techniques for semi-volatile organic compounds, have been identified as potential tracers for gasoline-powered motor vehicle emissions. A composite of the commercially distributed California Phase II Reformulated Gasoline used in these tests was analyzed by several analytical methods to quantify the gasoline composition, including some organic compounds that are found in the atmosphere as semi-volatile and particle-phase organic compounds. These results allow a direct comparison of the semi-volatile and particle-phase organic compound emissions from gasoline-powered motor vehicles to the gasoline burned by these vehicles. The distribution of n-alkanes and isoprenoids emitted from the catalyst-equipped gasoline-powered vehicles is the same as the distribution of these compounds found in the gasoline used, whereas the distribution of these compounds in the emissions from the noncatalyst vehicles is very different from the distribution in the fuel. In contrast, the distribution of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their methylated homologues in the gasoline is significantly different from the distribution of the PAH in the tailpipe emissions from both types of vehicles.

The emission rates of gas-phase, semivolatile, and particle-phase organic compounds ranging in carbon number from C1 to C27 were measured from institutional-scale food cooking operations that employ seed oils. Two cooking methods and three types of seed oils were examined: vegetables stir-fried in soybean oil, vegetables stir-fried in canola oil, and potatoes deep fried in hydrogenated soybean oil. The emission rates of 99 organic compounds were quantified, and these include n-alkanes, branched alkanes, alkenes, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkenoic acids, carbonyls, aromatics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and lactones. Carbonyls and fatty acids (n-alkanoic and n-alkenoic acids) make up a significant portion of the organic compounds emitted from all three seed oil cooking procedures. The compositional differences in the organic compound emissions between the different cooking operations are consistent with the differences in the organic composition of the various cooking oils used. The distribution of the n-alkanoic acids between the gas and particle phases was found to be in good agreement with gas/particle partitioning theory. The relative importance of emissions from commercial deep frying operations to the total emissions of C16 and C18 n-alkanoic acids in the Los Angeles urban area was estimated using the available information and is estimated to account for approximately 7% of the total primary emissions of these acids. Additional emissions of these n-alkanoic acids from stir-frying and grill frying operations are expected. Estimates also indicate that seed oil cooking may make up a significant fraction of the emissions of lighter n-alkanoic acids such as nonanoic acid.