Radovan Kareš

Levels of persistent organic pollutants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air of Central and Eastern Europe.

Abstract The ambient air and soil monitoring network was established in 22 countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in support of the Global Monitoring Plan under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Polyurethane foam based passive air samplers were used as a tool for monitoring of POPs in ambient air at remote, rural, suburban, and urban sites with the aim of filling the information gaps identified in this UN region. High atmospheric levels of PCBs, HCHs, DDTs or HCB were observed at the rural as well as urban sites indicating that organochlorines still pose a significant problem in CEE. Pesticide storage, industrial complexes, military zones, and landfills were responsible for the elevated levels of POPs in this survey. The background levels of these compounds, however, were often elevated, too.

Covalent bonding of azoles to quaternary protoberberine alkaloids

Adducts of the quaternary protoberberine alkaloids (QPA) berberine, palmatine, and coptisine were prepared with nucleophiles derived from pyrrole, pyrazole, imidazole, and 1,2,4‐triazole. The products, 8‐substituted 7,8‐dihydroprotoberberines, were identified by mass spectrometry and 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, including 1H15N shift correlations at natural abundance. In addition, two adducts of QPA with chloroform and methanethiolate were characterized by using NMR data. Single‐crystal X‐ray structures of 8‐pyrrolyl‐7,8‐dihydroberberine, 8‐pyrazolyl‐7,8‐dihydroberberine, and 8‐imidazolyl‐7,8‐dihydroberberine are also presented. Copyright

POPs in ambient air from MONET network - Global and regional trends

The Stockholm Convention (SC) on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) mentioned in Article 16 of the SC that its effectiveness shall be evaluated starting four years after the date of its entry into force. Global Monitoring Plan (GMP) has been developed with an objective of evaluating whether the POPs actually were reduced or eliminated on the global scale. As one of the key matrices for the global monitoring, an ambient air was selected. We are using two approaches for sampling – so called active using the high volume samplers, and passive air samplers (PAS) as new tools for the air quality monitoring. MONET programme (MONnitoring NETwork) is driven by RECETOX as the Regional Centre of the Stockholm Convention for the region of Central and Eastern Europe on the national scale (MONET-CZ, containing 37 sites including 15 backgrounds), and regional scales – the Central, Southern and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (MONET-CEECs), the Pacific Islands (MONET-PIs), the African continent (MONET-AFRICA) and newly the whole of Europe (MONET-Europe). Samples are collected every 28 days; it represents 13 samples from each site every year. Keyword: Stockholm Convention, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), ambient air monitoring.