Talk:Volatile organic compound

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 September 2021 and 14 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): DaniellaDiaz, Jocefim3.

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Reorganized
I have reorganised this page somewhat by making more sections and regrouping some of the content. I hope this has made the article more coherent. I have also heavily edited the article on phytoncides - see below. --NHSavage 22:47, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

and burning biomass such as wood
my knowledge of chemistry has became a little rusted over the years, but I can not see of burning of wood can release methane. I could agre that processes of bio-matter decompostion can be responsible for emissions of methane and sulphur dioxide etc. but wood combustion?? sorry if that is a lame comment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.10.66.204 (talk) 20:52, 17 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Burning wood does produce methane. In the ambient air it is usually produced much less than CO2 is. Biological substances decomposed in the absence of air (anaerobic) produce methane and carbon dioxide and small amounts of sulphur dioxide. Freefighter (talk) 21:26, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

phytoncides
The original text on this read "At the other hand some VOC (phytoncides) use in medicine and are the factor of the pure air for location of preventorium (sanatorium, health farm, health station) in oak or pine forests." I have done my best to put this into good English but I may have misinterpreted what 193.111.16.7 meant. If this is the case I apologise. My own POV is that this sounds like snake oil but I am not well informed enough to rewrite this in an NPOV manner. --NHSavage 22:47, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

About the CFR definition
Hi there. What's up with the CFR definition? It's very difficult to read, there are many spaces (tabs, perhaps?) and some double and triple parentheses. Could anyone help me fix this (I can't do it alone because I don't know anything about this CFR thing, so I don't know where to break lines... ) - Andy cyca  |say... 22:16, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

I'd vote that we plan for the future and expect these subparts to bedefined further on their own. As such since each chemical has its own use and problem list they should be seperated in a descending list for easy break out and stubbing. If we are planning for this resource to be the one stop online data depot then we need to plan for the pyramids. If there is a lot more to the story then write with the idea that others will fill in the gap at a later date.FOK SD OA 20:05, 2 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I felt the CFR definiton was needlessly detailed. The list was of compounds not considered VOCs under the definition, making it seem even less important to the article. I retained the text of the CFR definition, including exceptions in that text, but summarized the subsequent list of non-VOC compounds to say that the definition included a list of dozens of compounds. The citation has a link to the federal government's full definition. -Agyle 22:25, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

VOC symbols for the UK notice
The five globe symbols must be licensed from B&Q plc and should not be uploaded to Wikipedia. Pointysticks 21:13, 7 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Pictures in question are no longer up as of present. Freefighter (talk) 23:11, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Makes little to no sense
Some types of VOC (phytoncides) ... are a factor in locating some sanitoriums and health farms and in oak or pine forests.

If this is an example of deliberate gibberish, it should be deleted. If it's serious, it should be clarified. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.101.159.23 (talk) 16:28, 13 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I removed the sentence. It may have been serious, but either way I think it's too minor an aspect of VOCs to warrant inclusion in this article. -Agyle 02:27, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Voc textbox.gif
Image:Voc textbox.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 20:19, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

benzene is considered a carcinogen
The article says, "Within the NMVOCs, the aromatic compounds benzene, toluene and xylene are suspected carcinogens and may lead to leukemia through prolonged exposure."

The statement should be stronger with regards to benzene. The Environmental Protection Agency classifies benzene as a "known human carcinogen". See for example http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/benzene.html


 * Made stronger and cited US EPA. Freefighter (talk) 14:38, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

formaldehyde emitted from skin?!?
I inserted the tag after "formaldehyde is emitted at a lower rate from the surface of the human body" because after reading the abstract in the citation, it seemed to me that the wiki writer mistook formaldehyde for formamide. I didn't give it a because I was not able to access the full text. I also read this paper that says formaldehyde exists naturally in the human body, but it did not give any sources: It was entitled "Formaldehyde Emissions Get EWPAA Tick for Safety," a Media Release from 27 Aug. 2007 from Engineered Wood Products Association of Australia at www.paa.asn.au/NewsAndMedia/Downloads/Media%20Release%20-%20Formaldehyde%20Emissions.pdf, which I accessed on 3 May, 2008. The source is invested in plywood, so it is biased, but this is something worth looking into.Tbackman (talk) 05:58, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Sectional re-organization and page overhaul
Am in the process of organizational structure revamp. Trying to amend the definitions section. Section order: 1. Definitions and chemical properties 2. 2. Applications, 3. Environmental effects. Emphasis on making this page less confusing/more readable. Freefighter (talk) 23:10, 20 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Have revamped the Definitions section. Added Canada, fixed sentence structure and verified references. Freefighter (talk) 20:21, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

challenge ROG redirect and ROG (disambiguation) link
How does ROG pertain to this page? Acronyms based around "voc" combinations should be highlighted instead.

Propose change to: For other uses, see VOC (disambiguation).Freefighter (talk) 18:32, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

More general description
I agree the initial opening sentence is not geared to the general reader - it is too scientific. Here is an EPA definition of VOCs:


 * Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions.

I suggest the following opening sentence:


 * Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gases emitted by certain solids or liquids, many of which have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Products that emit VOCs include paint, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, glues and adhesives, building materials and furnishings. Billtubbs (talk) 15:48, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Environment Canada also has a good description:


 * Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are carbon-containing gases and vapors such as gasoline fumes and solvents (but excluding carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons). Although there are many thousands of organic compounds in the natural and polluted troposphere that meet the definition of a VOC, most measurement programs have concentrated on the 50 to 150 most abundant hydrocarbons.


 * Many individual VOC are known or suspected of having direct toxic effects on humans, ranging from carcinogenesis to neurotoxicity. A number of individual VOC (e.g. benzene, dichloromethane) have been assessed to be toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999). The more reactive VOC combine with nitrogen oxides (NOx) in photochemical reactions in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone, a major component of smog. VOC are also a precursor pollutant to the secondary formation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Both ozone and PM2.5 are known to have harmful effects on human health and the environment. For more detailed information about VOC, visit http://www.ec.gc.ca/nopp/voc/en/index.cfm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Billtubbs (talk • contribs) 01:10, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Rewrite
I agree that this page needs a rewrite.
 * VOC is too broad of a topic for one article.
 * There are grammatical and logical errors.
 * Some paragraphs are redundant or repetitive.
 * Good points made already (see above).

I've tried to trim out the fat and provide a skeleton of redirects so this page can be more like a table of contents for VOCs.

VOC shouldn't be a holding area for random VOC related information which hasn't been properly codified.

Billtubbs, I decided to err toward bold on this one. Leef (talk) 00:25, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Rewrite about to begin, comments welcome
This theme is topical as it is relevant to health, usually via indoor emission is my impression, and has connections to industrial practices. A generic definition of any compound that happens to be volatile is not the intent of VOC. And then there is the fact that most (outdoor) VOCs are naturally derived terpenes etc ... But in any case, leave a note if you have views. Probably the article will be drastically revised.--Smokefoot (talk) 18:36, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Acetone
The article states that acetone is a source of VOC. This is not true. Acetone does not contain any VOC. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.134.48.250 (talk) 19:12, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

EU definition
"can do damage to visual or audible senses" SERIOUSLY? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.195.45.181 (talk) 20:40, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

VOC, one section: VOC's here, Primer & Imprimatura
Volatile organic compound, one section: Stain blocking primer, Primer (paint) & Imprimatura My summary, here, is: Merge? et_al, etc : '''Which? Where?'''. (Stain blocking primer & Volatile organic compound . . ( ... or with: Primer (paint))), (Imprimatura & Primer (paint)). vgr.: Stain blocking primer with Primer (paint), or that section 2 here/to VOC. --PLA y Grande Covián (talk) 15:18, 17 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Volatile organic compound (Q910267), this article: VOC = Volatile organic compound
 * Stain blocking primers (Q7597001): 1 section: VOC's cfr. outside = at Stain blocking primer: (you see: suggested to be merged into Primer (paint). Proposed since January 2014), small & orphant one.
 * Primer (Q380866): Primer = Primer (paint)
 * Imprimatura (Q11711948) : Imprimatura

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Removed "Treatment" section
I just removed the "Treatment" section. It was looking like an advertisement, was not encyclopedic, had no references whatsoever, was partially unrelated and badly written. The same exact text was also added on the Formaldehyde and Air purifier pages, where I also removed it. Antifumo (talk) 17:11, 11 July 2016 (UTC)

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