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Environmental Context.Fine and coarse airborne particulate matter (PM) has been linked to increases in respiratory diseases and lung cancer. PM contains a variety of compounds, such as metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitro-PAHs, and quinones adsorbed in a carbonaceous polymeric matrix. Although quinones are found in small amounts in PM, they are capable of redox cycling and in the presence of oxygen catalyse the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in biological systems. ROS are responsible for the induction of oxidative stress, especially oxidative damage to cellular proteins and DNA. This paper investigated quantitatively selected quinones and hydroquinones by high performance liquid chromatography in various airborne PM samples. Also, we investigated the presence of persistent semiquinone radicals in solid samples and quinoid radicals in aqueous extracts of alkaline …