Persistent Organic Pollutants in Alaska. New GC-MS Experiments and Experiences for College and Pre-College Students

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This project is introducing college and pre-college students in Alaska to the concepts and practices of chemical analysis, especially relating to the local occurrence of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Alaska, because of its geographical location and cold climate, is particularly susceptible to deposition of organic pollutants from winds and ocean currents originating at lower latitudes. A new GC-MS instrument equipped with a sampling robot that automatically pre-concentrates pollutant compounds from environmental samples is being installed for student use. Four specific activities are underway: i) pre-college students at the university's summer Rural Alaska Honors Institute for Alaska Natives are using GC-MS and passive sampling techniques to identify and quantify Alaskan POPs; ii) in order to learn more about stable isotopes in nature first-year general chemistry students are studying volatile halogenated organics, which occur in trace amounts in drinking water; iii) organic chemistry students are identifying volatile organics in fragrant biological or commercial samples, and are applying detailed computational analysis to the data; and, iv) advanced chemistry majors are using GC-MS to measure the physical properties of POPs, which affect their distribution within the air-water-land system.