An efficient laboratory workflow for environmental risk assessment of organic chemicals. (July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhu, Linyan; Santiago-Schübel, Beatrix; Xiao, Hongxia; Thiele, Björn; Zhu, Zhiliang; Qiu, Yanling; Hollert, Henner; Küppers, Stephan
• Is Part Of: Chemosphere. Volume 131(2015)
• Page Start: 34
• Page End: 40
• Publication Date: 2015-07
• Subjects: Risk assessment -- Electrochemistry–mass spectrometry -- Ecotoxicity -- Organic pollutants -- Carbamazepine; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Physiological effect -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Atmospheric chemistry -- Periodicals; 551.511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.02.031
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-6535

Abstract

Highlights: A lab workflow for environmental risk assessment of chemicals and redox TPs was set up. We validated the workflow with a sample substance-carbamazepine. Oxidative transformation process of CBZ was simulated and fully studied by EC–MS. The combined toxicity of CBZ and TPs was much higher than CBZ in fish embryo test. Abstract: In this study, we demonstrate a fast and efficient workflow to investigate the transformation mechanism of organic chemicals and evaluate the toxicity of their transformation products (TPs) in laboratory scale. The transformation process of organic chemicals was first simulated by electrochemistry coupled online to mass spectrometry (EC–MS). The simulated reactions were scaled up in a batch EC reactor to receive larger amounts of a reaction mixture. The mixture sample was purified and concentrated by solid phase extraction (SPE) for the further ecotoxicological testing. The combined toxicity of the reaction mixture was evaluated in fish egg test (FET) ( Danio rerio ) compared to the parent compound. The workflow was verified with carbamazepine (CBZ). By using EC–MS seven primary TPs of CBZ were identified; the degradation mechanism was elucidated and confirmed by comparison to literature. The reaction mixture and one primary product (acridine) showed higher ecotoxicity in fish egg assay with 96 h EC50 values of 1.6 and 1.0 mg L −1 than CBZ with the value of 60.8 mg L −1 . The results highlight the importance of transformation mechanism study and toxicological effect evaluation for organic chemicals brought into the environment since transformation of them may increase the toxicity. The developed process contributes a fast and efficient laboratory method for the risk assessment of organic chemicals and their TPs.