Issue 4, 2023

Human skin oil: a major ozone reactant indoors

Abstract

Human skin oil is rich in ozone-reactive compounds, including squalene and unsaturated acyl groups of free fatty acids, glycerols, and wax esters. Squalene and unsaturated acyl groups are each responsible for about half of the double bonds in skin oil. When there are no indoor sources, ozone concentrations are smaller indoors than outdoors, chiefly because ozone reacts with indoor surfaces. Ozone reacts rapidly with skin oils on occupants' exposed skin, hair, and clothing. Also, skin oil and its unsaturated oxidation products are transferred to indoor surfaces. A recent study of an occupied residence inferred that the average surface density of skin oil double bonds on inanimate indoor surfaces was approximately 5 μmol m−2. Estimates suggest that about 15% of outdoor ozone transported into residences is removed by skin oil or its byproducts. This percentage increases with occupant density indoors. In classrooms, the proportion of ozone removal attributable to skin oil may be in the range 35–55%. Further measurements of skin oil on off-body surfaces in a variety of indoor environments are needed to improve such estimates. In occupied indoor environments, the amount of ozone and ozone-derived products that occupants inhale is materially affected by the extent to which ozone reacts with skin-oil constituents. Toxicities of the products of ozone reactions with skin oil warrant further attention. The relative contribution of other fugitive sources (e.g., cooking oils, paints, and pesticides), as well as constituents inherent to building materials and furnishings, to ozone-reactive compounds on indoor surfaces remains unknown and also merits attention.

Graphical abstract: Human skin oil: a major ozone reactant indoors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
12 jan 2023
Accepted
22 feb 2023
First published
22 feb 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Environ. Sci.: Atmos., 2023,3, 640-661

Human skin oil: a major ozone reactant indoors

C. J. Weschler and W. W. Nazaroff, Environ. Sci.: Atmos., 2023, 3, 640 DOI: 10.1039/D3EA00008G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements