Identification of ester metabolites from petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation in groundwater using GC×GC‐TOFMS. (14th July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: O'Reilly, Kirk T.; Mohler, Rachel E.; Zemo, Dawn A.; Ahn, Sungwoo; Tiwary, Asheesh K.; Magaw, Renae I.; Espino Devine, Catalina; Synowiec, Karen A.
• Is Part Of: Environmental toxicology and chemistry. Volume 34:Number 9(2015:Sep.)
• Page Start: 1959
• Page End: 1961
• Publication Date: 2015-07-14
• Subjects: Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental chemistry -- Periodicals; 615.902
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.3022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0730-7268

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="etc3022-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <p>In an effort to understand the nature and toxicity of petroleum hydrocarbon degradation metabolites, 2‐dimensional gas chromatography linked to a time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer (GC×GC‐TOFMS) was used to conduct nontargeted analysis of the extracts of 61 groundwater samples collected from 10 fuel release sites. An unexpected result was the tentative identification of 197 unique esters. Although esters are known to be part of specific hydrocarbon degradative pathways, they are not commonly considered or evaluated in field studies of petroleum biodegradation. In addition to describing the compounds identified, the present study discusses the role for nontargeted analysis in environmental studies. Overall, the low toxicological profile of the identified esters, along with the limited potential for exposure, renders them unlikely to pose any significant health risk. <italic>Environ Toxicol Chem</italic> 2015;34:1959–1961. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of SETAC.</p> </sec> </abstract>