@article{ref1,
title="Chemical composition of burnt smell caused by accidental fires: Environmental contaminants",
journal="Chemosphere",
year="2011",
author="Heitmann, Katharina and Wichmann, Hubertus and Bahadir, Mufit and Gunschera, J. and Schulz, N. and Salthammer, T.",
volume="82",
number="2",
pages="237-243",
abstract="The chemical composition of the odors typical of fires has recently been deciphered. Basically the constituents are mixtures of acetophenone, benzyl alcohol, hydroxylated derivatives of benzaldehyde, methoxylated and/or alkylated phenols and naphthalene. This finding makes it possible to develop objective, practical analytic measurement methods for the burnt smell as a contribution to improving fire damage assessment and remediation monitoring. With the aid of an artificially produced burnt smell and a panel of testers the odor detection threshold of a test mixture was determined olfactometrically to 2μgm(-3). Using a defined burnt-smell atmosphere in a test chamber, analytical methods with active sampling, the adsorbents XAD 7 and TENAX TA, and GC/MS measurement were then optimized and tested with a view to being able to carry out sensitive quantitative measurement of burnt smells. A further practical method with particular application to the qualitative characterization of this odor is based on the use of a new SPME (solid-phase microextraction) field sampler with DVB/CAR/PDMS (divinylbenzene/Carboxen™/polydimethylsiloxane) fibers.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0045-6535",
doi="10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.09.065",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.09.065"
}