Outdoor trends and indoor investigations of volatile organic compounds in two high schools of southern Italy

Due to their still-developing respiratory and immune systems, children may be the most fragile subjects in this regard, and therefore, the study of indoor air quality in schools is of the utmost importance. In this work, the concentra- tions of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) and of 20 specific compounds belonging to this class were determined in a school in Squinzano, a town in the province of Lecce (Apulia region, southern Italy). Sampling was carried out in indoor (classrooms and bathrooms) and outdoor (terrace) areas using passive diffusive samplers for VOCs and photoionization detec- tors for TVOCs. The data were then compared to the ones obtained in a similar study conducted in a school in Galatina, another town of the Apulia region, highlighting the impact of the surrounding outdoor environment on the indoor profile of VOCs.