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# Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) Study Volatile Organic Compounds Master List Contents 100% Building Frequency of Detection Indoors 75%
- 99% Building Frequency of Detection Indoors 1%
- 74% Building Frequency of Detection Indoors Not Detected in BASE Study Buildings Indoors 100% Building Frequency of Detection Indoors Click on the Analyte (Chemical Name) in the chart b elow to display an Adobe Acrobat PDF file displaying the concentration distribution of the chemical across all sampling sites both indoors and outdoors. We have provided as background, a Box-andWhisker Plot chart that describes the typical sprea d of data:

Click on the image for a larger version PDF Version (PDF, 1 page, 30KB ) You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files linked on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

Analyte (Indoors) Number of Buildings Building

Frequency Detected Indoors (%) Analyte

Concentration Indoors Percentile (ug/m 3 ) Analyte

Concentration Indoors Arithmetic Mean (ug/m 3 ) 5th 50th 95th Acetaldehyde 86 100 2.6 7.2 15 7.8 Acetone 70 100 9.9 30 110 42 Benzene 70 100 1.1 3.6 9.1 4.2 Nonanal 41 100 1.5 3.6 7.9 4.3 Toluene 70 100 2.7 8.7 39 16 

## IAQ in Large Buildings Last updated on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/voc_master_list.html 

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6/16/2009 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/voc_master_list.html75% - 99% Building Frequency of Detection Indoors

Click on the Analyte (Chemical Name) in the chart b elow to display an Adobe Acrobat PDF file displaying the concentration distribution of the ch emical across all sampling sites both indoors and outdoors. We have provided a chart (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format) that describes the information provided in these statist ical plots.

1,1,1
- Trichloroethane 70 100 0.97 3.1 21 11 Chloromethane 87 100 1.8 2.5 4.3 2.9 Ethylbenzene 70 100 0.43 1.5 6.2 2.4 Formaldehyde 100 100 4.4 15 32 16 m - & p
- Xylenes 70 100 1.3 5.1 24 8.4 n - Decane 70 100 0.79 2.9 24 6.3 n - Dodecane 70 100 0.99 3.5 14 5.4 n - Undecane 70 100 0.96 4.0 19 6.3 o - Xylene 70 100 0.59 2.1 8.2 3.1 1,2,4
- Trimethylbenzene 70 100 0.61 1.9 12 3.3 d
- Limonene 70 100 1.1 7.1 44 12 Hexanal 41 100 1.5 4.1 12 5.4 Phenol 41 100 0.38 1.8 7.3 2.5 Ethyl Acetate 70 100 0.34 2.0 7.5 3.7 Tetrachloroethene 70 100 0.3 1.5 18 3.8 2,2,4
- Trimethyl
- 1, 3
- Pentanediol Diisobutyrate 41 100 0.26 0.74 2.4 1.1

2
- Ethyl
- 1
- Hexanol 41 100 0.26 1.2 5.1 1.8 Nonane 70 100 ≤ LOQ 0.94 10 2.8 Ethanol 13 100 ≤ LOQ 79 260 89 2
- Propanol 13 100 ≤ LOQ 30 320 73 Note: Time-integrated air sampling for VOCs was col lected in all 100 study buildings. The SUMMA canister method (method CAN) and aldehyde sam ple method (method ALD) were used in all 100 buildings, while the multisorbent m ethod (method TNX) was used for the last 70 buildings studied. In addition, because th e target VOC analyte list underwent some revision over the course of the BASE study, some an alytes were sampled at fewer than the full 100 buildings. A more detailed discussion of changes in methodology and target analytes can be found in the Standardized Protocol ( PDF , 311 pp, 1.5MB) .

Building Analyte

Concentration Analyte Concentration 

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6/16/2009 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/voc_master_list.htmlAnalyte (Indoors) Number of Buildings Frequency

Detected Indoors (%) Indoors

Percentile (ug/m 3 ) Indoors

Arithmetic Mean (ug/m 3 ) 5th 50th 95th 2
- Butanone 70 99 0.81 2.6 7.8 3.3 Styrene 70 99 0.091 0.91 3.0 1.3 Octane 70 99 ≤ LOQ 0.85 6.4 3.3 2
- Butoxyethanol 41 98 0.036 5.5 68 12 n - Hexane 41 98 ≤ LOQ 2.5 12 3.9 Valeraldehyde (Pentanal) 41 98 ≤ LOQ 1.2 4.0 1.6 Dichlorodifluoromethane 87 97 ≤ LOQ 6.8 36 33
4
- Ethyltoluene 70 96 ≤ LOQ 0.77 4.1 1.3 Butyl Acetate 70 94 ≤ LOQ 1.5 10 3.1

a - Pinene 70 94 ≤ LOQ 0.57 3.1 0.94 2,2,4
- Trimethyl
- 1, 3
- Pentanediol monoisobutyratel 41 93 ≤ LOQ 2.5 19 5.4
1,3,5
- Trimethylbenzene 70 93 ≤ LOQ 0.54 3.9 1.0
4
- Methyl
- 2
- Pentanone 70 93 ≤ LOQ 1.0 7.2 2.2
1
- Butanol 41 90 ≤ LOQ 2.1 10 3.3 Naphthalene 70 90 ≤ LOQ 0.73 2.6 0.95 Methylene Chloride 100 81 ≤ LOQ 2.9 16 21 1,4
- Dichlorobenzene 70 77 ≤ LOQ 0.54 13 2.8 Trichlorofluoromethane 100 73 ≤ LOQ 3.9 51 19 Note: Time-integrated air sampling for VOCs was col lected in all 100 study buildings. The SUMMA canister method (method CAN) and aldehyde sam ple method (method ALD) were used in all 100 buildings, while the multisorbent m ethod (method TNX) was used for the last 70 buildings studied. In addition, because th e target VOC analyte list underwent some revision over the course of the BASE study, some an alytes were sampled at fewer than the full 100 buildings. A more detailed discussion of changes in methodology and target analytes can be found in the Standardized Protocol ( PDF , 311 pp, 1.5MB) . 

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6/16/2009 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/voc_master_list.html1% - 74% Building Frequency of Detection Indoors

Click on the Analyte (Chemical Name) in the chart b elow to display an Adobe Acrobat PDF file displaying the concentration distribution of the ch emical across all sampling sites both indoors and outdoors. We have provided a chart (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format) that describes the information provided in these statist ical plots.

Analyte (Indoors) Number of Buildings Building

Frequency Detected Indoors (%) Analyte

Concentration Indoors Percentile (ug/m 3 ) Analyte

Concentration Indoors Arithmetic Mean (ug/m 3 ) 5th 50th 95th Carbon Disulfide 87 67 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 6.4 2.0 Trichloroethene 70 66 ≤ LOQ 0.29 2.6 0.76 3
- Methyl Pentane 70 64 ≤ LOQ 1.4 6.6 2.3 2
- Methyl
- 1
- Propanol 13 31 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 5.3 1.4 Chloroform 87 29 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 1.3 0.59
t - Butyl Methyl Ether 70 24 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 14 2.8

n - Heptanal 13 23 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 2.0 2.1 Trichlorotrifluoroethane 87 21 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 8.1 2.3 Dimethyl Disulfide 87 14 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 3.6 2.6 Chlorobenzene 70 13 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 0.26 0.18 Carbon Tetrachloride 70 8.6 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 0.74 0.93
4
- Phenylcyclohexene 41 7.3 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 0.17 Bromomethane 87 6.9 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 0.12 0.85 1,2
- Dichloroethane 87 4.6 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 1.1 1,2,4
- Trichlorobenzene 29 3.5 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 0.38 Chloroethane 87 3.5 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 1.4 

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6/16/2009 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/voc_master_list.htmlNot Detected in BASE Study Buildings Indoors

Click on the Analyte (Chemical Name) in the chart b elow to display an Adobe Acrobat PDF file displaying the concentration distribution of the ch emical across all sampling sites both indoors and outdoors. We have provided a chart (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format) that describes the information provided in these statist ical plots. 1,2
- Dichlorobenzene 70 2.9 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 0.27 Vinyl Chloride 87 1.2 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 0.78 1,2
- Dibromoethane 87 1.2 ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ 1.1 Note: Time-integrated air sampling for VOCs was col lected in all 100 study buildings. The SUMMA canister method (method CAN) and aldehyde sam ple method (method ALD) were used in all 100 buildings, while the multisorbent m ethod (method TNX) was used for the last 70 buildings studied. In addition, because th e target VOC analyte list underwent some revision over the course of the BASE study, some an alytes were sampled at fewer than the full 100 buildings. A more detailed discussion of changes in methodology and target analytes can be found in the Standardized Protocol ( PDF , 311 pp, 1.5MB) .

Analyte (Indoors) Number of Buildings Building

Frequency Detected Indoors (%) Analyte

Concentration Indoors Percentile (ug/m 3 ) Analyte

Concentration Indoors Arithmetic Mean (ug/m 3 ) 5th 50th 95th 1,1
- Dichloroethane 46 - ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ - 1,1
- Dichloroethene 46 - ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ - 1,3
- Butadiene 13 - ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ - Butylated Hydroxytoluene 41 - ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ - cis
- 1,3
- Dicholorpropene 46 - ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ - Dichlorotetrafluoroethane 46 - ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ - trans - 1,3
- Dichloropropene 46 - ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ ≤ LOQ - Note: Time-integrated air sampling for VOCs was col lected in all 100 study buildings. The SUMMA canister method (method CAN) and aldehyde sam ple method (method ALD) were used in all 100 buildings, while the multisorbent m ethod (method TNX) was used for the last 70 buildings studied. In addition, because th e target VOC analyte list underwent some revision over the course of the BASE study, some an alytes were sampled at fewer than the full 100 buildings. A more detailed discussion of changes in methodology and target analytes can be found in the Standardized Protocol ( PDF , 311 pp, 1.5MB) . 

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6/16/2009 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/voc_master_list.htmlFigure 2: Distribution of BASE VOC Concentrationsat All Sampling Sites0.010.1110100100010000Indoors Outdoors Indoors Outdoors Indoors Outdoors Indoors Outdoors Indoors Outdoors

Concentration, ug/m 31,1,1-Trichloroethane Chloromethane Ethylbenzene Formaldehydem- & p-XylenesNote:The shaded region represents concentrations below the study's median limit of quantitation (LOQ) for the given analyte.AnalyteCAS#Number ofSites6Site FrequencyDetected (%)5Location 5th 25th50th275th 95th 100thArithmeticMean31,1,1-Trichloroethane 71-55-6 20999 Indoors 0.97 1.8 3.1 5.5 21 450 111,1,1-Trichloroethane 71-55-6 6665 Outdoors < LOQ 0.41 0.63 1.1 1.8 6.5 0.88Chloromethane74-87-3 25999 Indoors 1.8 2.1 2.5 3.1 4.3 22 2.9Chloromethane74-87-3 8799 Outdoors 1.6 2.0 2.3 3.0 4.0 11 2.6Ethylbenzene100-41-4 20999 Indoors 0.43 1.1 1.5 2.8 6.2 30 2.4Ethylbenzene100-41-4 6984 Outdoors < LOQ 0.32 0.70 1.2 2.6 3.3 0.90Formaldehyde50-00-0 29499 Indoors 4.4 9.2 15 21 32 51 16Formaldehyde50-00-0 9995 Outdoors 0.40 1.4 3.0 5.7 10 13 3.9m- & p-Xylenes1330-20-7 20999 Indoors 1.3 3.4 5.1 9.5 24 96 8.4m- & p-Xylenes1330-20-7 6992 Outdoors 0.11 1.1 2.4 4.1 9.6 13 3.2Percentile4Notes:1. Analytes listed in order of site frequency detected indoors (%).2. Median - the 50th percentile, the value where half the results are less than this value and half are above this value.3. Arithmetic Mean - To compute these statistics, all values less that the LOQ were assigned values of 1/2 the median LOQ priorto computation. The limitof quantitation (LOQ) for the given analyte and analytical method varied from sample to sample therefore a single value wasused so that the comparison of tworesults that were both less than the LOQ would have no difference.4. Percentile - the value which a given percentage of values in a data set are less than or equal to. For example, the 75th percentile of concentrations is theconcentration which 75% of the values are less than or equal to.5. Site Frequency Detected (%) - The percentage of sample sites where the given analyte was detected for the specified sample method. For sites that had aduplicate sample, if one result was less than the LOQ and one was greater than the LOQ, for the purpose of computation, thesite was counted as 0.5 detected.6. Generally, there were three sampling sites indoors, and one sampling outdoors site for each building.