People stay most of the time indoor in humid climatic countries. Since synthetic materials especially plastics occupies our living rooms, indoor-accumulated dust is a health concern. Indoor surface dust samples were collected from living room of households in the city of Muscat, Oman. Samples were analyzed to identify 6 different species of phthalates using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Total phthalates concentration ranged from 0.01 to 1864.58 μg/g. Di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) was the predominant species contributing to more than 80% of the identified phthalates followed by di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). The presence of high concentration of DNOP in surface dust samples probably may reflect the carpet usage in Omani houses. The species of phthalates reported in this study are not comparable to those from studies conducted in other countries.

People stay most of the time indoor in humid climatic countries. Since synthetic materials especially plastics occupies our living rooms, indoor-accumulated dust is a health concern. Indoor surface dust samples were collected from living room of households in the city of Muscat, Oman. Samples we...