Vegetation is the source of over 90% of all volatile organic compounds in the global atmosphere. Some oxygenated hydrocarbons emitted by plants react with radicals, such as nitrate and hydroxyl, and ozone at comparable rates to those of the most reactive anthropogenic compounds and they can contribute to ozone formation in urban areas. Although the natural hydrocarbons have an important role in the formation of photochemical oxidant, chemical speciation of the oxygenated volatile organic compounds is still very limited. In this paper, enclosured gaseous samples were collected from Ficus benjamina, a common plant species in the region of the São Paulo City, and various oxygenated volatile organic compounds, such as organic acids (formic and acetic acids), aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and hexanal) and alcohols (menthol, 1- butanol, 1-pentanol, 2-penten1ol, 4-penten-2-ol e linalool), were identified by using chromatographic techniques.
Biogenic atmospheric emissions; Ficus benjamina; oxygenated hydrocarbons; volatile organic compounds
