Environmental samples together with biological samples are the most demanding for analytical chemists. These matrices are usually very complex and vary in almost all possible properties. Usually environmental samples are divided according to their physical state, such as solid for soil, liquid for water and gas for atmospheric samples. However, this division is unfortunately not that simple, since generally samples comprise of two or even all three states. For example atmospheric samples consist of aerosol and gas fractions, and water samples include also suspended particles etc. The compounds in atmospheric samples are usually distributed between two phases making the analysis even more demanding.

Environmental analytical chemistry is very challenging, dynamic and versatile field. It can be grouped into different subjects based e.g. on the types of environmental matrices. Due to the lack of time this tutorial is focused on atmospheric environment and particularly on atmospheric particulate matter (aerosols). The Earth’s climate is an extremely dynamic and complex system in which atmospheric aerosols have been recognized to play a key role. Aerosol particles affect the climate through a multitude of processes, directly by absorbing and reflecting radiation, and indirectly by changing the properties of clouds. Aerosols are highly complex, since their size dependent chemical composition differs in time and space. Because of their complexity, quantification of the effects of aerosols continues is still vague, and better understanding of their effects require more information on aerosol chemistry.

In this tutorials different analytical approaches,including novel instrumental sampling of the size segregated ultrafine particles and different liquid chromatographic techniques for getting information on the chemical composition of the nucleation mode and on compounds participating into aerosol formation will be described.