Indoor environment factor · measured in µg/m³
Naphthalene
Part of: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Also: naphthalene, mothballs, naphthalin
A two-ring aromatic hydrocarbon that is solid at room temperature yet volatile enough to reach substantial concentrations in air. Indoors it comes from mothballs and deodorant blocks, from combustion, and from building products containing coal tar.
Where it comes from indoors
Naphthalene is unusual among indoor pollutants in having a domestic source that is deliberate and concentrated. A mothball or a toilet deodorant block is close to pure naphthalene, placed in an enclosed space and left to sublime, and a wardrobe or a store cupboard containing them can reach concentrations orders of magnitude above the rest of the dwelling. Where the practice is common, it dominates the distribution across a survey.
The other sources are diffuse: incomplete combustion of any organic fuel, so wood smoke, tobacco smoke and unvented heating all contribute; traffic emissions entering from outdoors; and coal-tar-based materials in older construction.
It sits on the boundary this vocabulary draws between volatile and semi-volatile compounds — light enough to be captured on a sorbent tube with the volatile organic compounds, heavy enough to be counted among the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — and is routinely reported in both.
What the studies report
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candles and incense | share-above 0 per 0.03 µg/m³ | — · test chamber | emission chamber study of twelve incense products sold in Portugal: volatile organic compounds, very volatile organic compounds and aldehydes sampled from the chamber by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and by high performance liquid chromatography, converted through the specific emission rate into a short-term peak concentration and a worst-case time-weighted average for a room of 30 m3, and compared with air quality guideline values | F-1219 Silva et al. Indoor air quality - Assessment of dangerous substances in i… (2021) | machine |
| — | other 1117 | — · home | study of air exchange rates and the migration of volatile organic compounds between basements and living areas of houses: compounds measured indoors, in the basement and outdoors across four seasonal visits | F-1447 Air exchange rates and migration of VOCs in basements and re… (2015) | machine |
| — | p95 6.8 | — · home | national cross-sectional survey of residential indoor air: 88 selected volatile organic compounds measured over a 24-month period in 3524 Canadian residential homes as part of the Canadian Health Measures Survey | F-1576 Li Profiles and monthly variations of selected volatile organic… (2019) | machine |
| — | other 34 | — · home | national cross-sectional survey of residential indoor air: 88 selected volatile organic compounds measured over a 24-month period in 3524 Canadian residential homes as part of the Canadian Health Measures Survey | F-1577 Li Profiles and monthly variations of selected volatile organic… (2019) | machine |
| — | median 13 | — · public building | survey of buildings contaminated by tar products and fungicidal preparations: naphthalene and its methyl derivatives measured in the air of public, residential and office buildings alongside the contaminated materials | F-1581 Materials contamination and indoor air pollution caused by t… (2020) | machine |
| — | median 6 | — · residential building | survey of buildings contaminated by tar products and fungicidal preparations: naphthalene and its methyl derivatives measured in the air of public, residential and office buildings alongside the contaminated materials | F-1582 Materials contamination and indoor air pollution caused by t… (2020) | machine |
| — | median 5 | — · office building | survey of buildings contaminated by tar products and fungicidal preparations: naphthalene and its methyl derivatives measured in the air of public, residential and office buildings alongside the contaminated materials | F-1583 Materials contamination and indoor air pollution caused by t… (2020) | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
Identifiers
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Naphthalene. Coridum Knowledge G-0141, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0141/