Abstract: This paper reviewed the researches on the carbonyl compounds emission and uptake by plants, and discussed the compensation point of the bidirectional exchange of carbonyl compounds between plants and atmosphere. The uptake by leaf stomata and stratum corneum is the principal way for the purification of air aldehydes by plants. After entering into plant leaves, most parts of carbonyl compounds can be metabolized into organic acid, glucide, amino acid, and carbon dioxide, etc., by the endoenzymes in leaves. The exchange direction of the carbonyl compounds between plants and atmosphere can be preliminarily predicted by the compensation point and the concentrations of ambient carbonyl compounds. This paper summarized the analytical methods such as DNPH/HPLC/UV and PFPH/GC/MS used for the determination of carbonyl compounds emitted from plants or in plant leaves. The main research interests in the future were pointed out, e.g., to improve and optimize the analytical methods for the determination of carbonyl compounds emitted from plants and the researches on systems (e.g., plantsoil system), to enlarge the detection species of carbonyl compounds emitted from plants, to screen the plant species which can effectively metabolize the pollutants, and to popularize the phytoremediation techniques for atmospheric pollution.

Key words: carbonyl compound, plant emission, plant uptake, analytical method.