ABOUT THE AIR POLLUTION RESEARCH CENTER

The Air Pollution Research Center (APRC) was established by the Regents of the University of California in 1961 to conduct basic and applied research into photochemical air pollution, which had been recognized a decade earlier in the Los Angeles basin as a consequence of crop injury. Over the past three decades, APRC researchers have been at the forefront of scientific studies involving:

The determination of the lifetimes and fates of chemicals emitted into the atmosphere from anthropogenic and biogenic sources and measurements of ambient concentrations of selected chemicals.
Development and testing of chemical mechanisms for the atmospheric photooxidation of volatile organic compounds for inclusion into airshed mechanisms for the formation of photochemical air pollution.
The effects of ozone and other air pollutants on plants, including on crops important to California's agriculture.

Presently the major focus of the APRC is in atmospheric science. Present research concerns: mechanistic and kinetic studies of the photolysis and reactions of small molecules of atmospheric interest using molecular beam and discharge flow techniques; laboratory studies of gas-to-particle conversion using a particle beam-mass spectrometer system; investigations of the kinetics, products and mechanisms of the gas-phase reactions of organic compounds emitted from anthropogenic and biogenic sources with hydroxyl (OH) radicals, nitrate (NO₃) radicals and ozone (O₃); the development of detailed chemical mechanisms for use in computer models to investigate the formation of ozone and other components of photochemical air pollution; investigation of the mutagenicity of atmospheric reaction products of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using human cell lines; and studies of the effects of ozone on agricultural crops. Currently, this research is supported by extramural grant and contract funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Air Resources Board, the University of California Toxic Substances Teaching and Research Program, and a number of industrial contracts.

The atmospheric science group at APRC at Fawcett Laboratory has five large volume (6000-8000 liter each) chambers for kinetic and product studies, with product analyses by gas chromatography (with flame ionization, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and mass spectrometric detection), in situ FT-IR absorption spectroscopy, a PE SCIEX API MS/MS direct air sampling, atmospheric pressure ionization tandem mass spectrometer, and a particle beam-mass spectrometer for real-time particle chemical composition measurements.

Equipment for plant sciences research at APRC includes a greenhouse with continuous stirred flow Teflon chambers and computer controlled fumigation capabilities.

The research interests of the seven research and academic faculty at APRC are given in the sections below. In addition to these faculty, six research associates from the Departments of Chemistry, Botany and Plant Sciences, Environmental Toxicology and Environmental Engineering, and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Fire Laboratory are affiliated with APRC.