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Dr Atallah El Zein

Phone: 01904 321220
Email: atallah.elzein@york.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Research Interests

Inhalation of particulate matter (PM) was considered very dangerous to human health and can affect directly the heart and lungs and has been linked to a range of serious health effects, including acute respiratory failure, heart attack and cancer. The chemical characterization of airborne particulate matter can help in optimizing policies on air quality and transport and introducing advanced strategies to reduce air pollution.

My current research aims to study the temporal variation of trace organic component in the fine airborne particulate matter (PM_2.5) of megacities emissions because of the magnitude of their population and to outline air pollution problems resulting from multi-source emissions. Ambient aerosols will be collected during summer and winter field campaigns using a high volume air sampler. The study aims to optimize the protocols of extraction of sampled filters, purification and chromatography analysis with mass spectrometry (GC-EI/CI-ToF-MS). Results will be correlated with meteorological variables and atmospheric gaseous pollutants (NO₂, SO₂, O₃...), to better understand the influence of both local and regional emissions on the concentration of the organic fraction in particulate phase.

Selected Publications

• Kinetic Study of the Gas-Phase Reaction of Nitrate Radicals with a series of methoxyphenol compounds: experimental and theoretical approaches. Lauraguais, Amélie; El Zein, Atallah; Coeur, Cécile; Obeid, Emil; Rayez, Marie-Thérèse; Rayez, Jean-Claude. Journal of Physical Chemistry A.  2016, 120 (17), pp 2691–2699, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.6b02729.
• Reaction Kinetics of 1,2-Benzenediol and 2-Methoxyphenol with Ozone. El Zein, A.; Coeur, C.;Obeid, E.; Lauraguais, A.; Fagniez, T. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2015, 119 (26), 6759-6765, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.5b00174.
• Kinetics and products of HONO interaction with TiO₂ surface under UV irradiation. El Zein, A.; Bedjanian, Y.; Romanias, M. N. Atmospheric Environment, 67, (2013), 203-210, DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.11.016.
• Interaction of NO₂ with TiO₂ Surface Under UV Irradiation: Measurements of the uptake coefficient. El Zein, A.; Bedjanian, Y. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12, 1013-1020, 2012, DOI: 10.5194/acp-12-1013-2012.