In this paper we show that oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (oxy-PAHs) are important cocontaminants that should be taken into account during risk assessment and remediation of sites with high levels of PAHs. The presented data, which have been collected both from our own research and the published literature, demonstrate that oxy-PAHs are abundant but neglected contaminants at these sites. The oxy-PAHs show relatively high persistency and because they are formed through transformation of PAHs, their concentrations in the environment may even increase as the sites are remediated by methods that promote PAH degradation. Furthermore, we show that oxy-PAHs are toxic to both humans and the environment, although the toxicity seems to be manifested through other effects than those known to be important for polycyclic aromatic compounds in general, that is, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Finally, we present data that support the hypothesis that oxy-PAHs are more mobile in the environment than PAHs, due to their polarity, and thus have a higher tendency to spread from contaminated sites via surface water and groundwater. We believe that oxy-PAHs should be included in monitoring programs at PAH-contaminated sites, even if a number of other toxicologically relevant compounds that may also be present, such as nitro-PAHs and azaarenes, are not monitored. This is because oxy-PAH levels are difficult to predict from the PAH levels, because their environmental behavior differs substantially from that of PAHs, and oxy-PAHs may be formed as PAHs are degraded.

The goals of this study were to investigate the relative degradation rates of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in contaminated soil, and to assess whether persistent oxidation products are formed during their degradation. Samples were taken on five occasions during a pilot-scale bioslurry treatment of soil from a former gasworks site. More than 100 PACs were identified in the soil, including unsubstituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylated PAHs (alkyl-PAHs), heterocyclic PACs, and oxygenated PAHs (oxy-PAHs), such as ketones, quinones, and coumarins. During the treatment, the low molecular weight PAHs and heterocyclics were degraded faster than the high molecular weight compounds. The unsubstituted PAHs also appear to have degraded more quickly than the corresponding alkyl-PAHs and nitrogen-containing heterocyclics. No new oxidation products that were not present in the untreated soil were identified after the soil treatment. However, oxy-PAHs that were present in the untreated soil were generally degraded more slowly than the parent compounds, suggesting that they were formed during the treatment or that they are more persistent. Two oxidation products, 1-acenaphthenone and 4-oxapyrene-5-one, were found at significantly higher concentrations at the end of the study. Because oxy-PAHs can be acutely toxic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic, we suggest that this group of compounds should also be monitored during the treatment of PAH-contaminated soil.

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The objective of the present study was to evaluate hazard/risk assessment methods for complex environmental mixtures that involve a targeted, priority chemical approach based on the cumulative hazard/risk of known mixture components or analyses of sufficiently similar mixtures. Ten polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated soils were separated into nonpolar and semipolar fractions, and both fractions elicited positive responses on the Salmonella reverse mutation assay. Targeted and nontargeted methods of hazard prediction routinely overestimated mutagenic activities for the nonpolar soil fractions, suggesting nonadditive interactions of PAHs in complex mixtures. This suggests that current risk assessment methods for complex mixtures may provide conservative estimates regarding soils contaminated with priority PAHs alone. Significant underestimations of total risk, however, will be obtained if the soils also contain unidentified PAHs as well as polycyclic aromatic compounds and related compounds that contribute to the total mutagenic activity. Furthermore, estimates of excess lifetime cancer risk associated with the nondietary ingestion of the PAH-contaminated soils studied here indicate that a traditional risk assessment model based on identified priority PAHs and an assumption of additivity generally underestimates the risk associated with the nonpolar soil fractions (in comparison to bioassay-derived risk estimates). Additional cancer risk may be associated with the more polar compounds that also are found at these contaminated sites and that rarely are included in the standard risk assessment methodology.

The goals of this study were to investigate the relative degradation rates of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in contaminated soil, and to assess whether persistent oxidation products are formed during their degradation. Samples were taken on five occasions during a pilot-scale bioslurry treatment of soil from a former gasworks site. More than 100 PACs were identified in the soil, including unsubstituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylated PAHs (alkyl-PAHs), heterocyclic PACs, and oxygenated PAHs (oxy-PAHs), such as ketones, quinones, and coumarins. During the treatment, the low molecular weight PAHs and heterocyclics were degraded faster than the high molecular weight compounds. The unsubstituted PAHs also appear to have degraded more quickly than the corresponding alkyl-PAHs and nitrogen-containing heterocyclics. No new oxidation products that were not present in the untreated soil were identified after the soil treatment. However, oxy-PAHs that were present in the untreated soil were generally degraded more slowly than the parent compounds, suggesting that they were formed during the treatment or that they are more persistent. Two oxidation products, 1-acenaphthenone and 4-oxapyrene-5-one, were found at significantly higher concentrations at the end of the study. Because oxy-PAHs can be acutely toxic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic, we suggest that this group of compounds should also be monitored during the treatment of PAH-contaminated soil.

Soil quality standards are based on partitioning and toxicity data for laboratory-spiked reference soils, instead of real world, historically contaminated soils, which would be more representative. Here 21 diverse historically contaminated soils from Sweden, Belgium, and France were obtained, and the soil-porewater partitioning along with the bioaccumulation in exposed worms (Enchytraeus crypticus) of native polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) were quantified. The native PACs investigated were polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and, for the first time to be included in such a study, oxygenated-PAHs (oxy-PAHs) and nitrogen containing heterocyclic PACs (N-PACs). The passive sampler polyoxymethylene (POM) was used to measure the equilibrium freely dissolved porewater concentration, Cpw, of all PACs. The obtained organic carbon normalized partitioning coefficients, KTOC, show that sorption of these native PACs is much stronger than observed in laboratory-spiked soils (typically by factors 10 to 100), which has been reported previously for PAHs but here for the first time for oxy-PAHs and N-PACs. A recently developed KTOC model for historically contaminated sediments predicted the 597 unique, native KTOC values in this study within a factor 30 for 100% of the data and a factor 3 for 58% of the data, without calibration. This model assumes that TOC in pyrogenic-impacted areas sorbs similarly to coal tar, rather than octanol as typically assumed. Black carbon (BC) inclusive partitioning models exhibited substantially poorer performance. Regarding bioaccumulation, Cpw combined with liposome-water partition coefficients corresponded better with measured worm lipid concentrations, Clipid (within a factor 10 for 85% of all PACs and soils), than Cpw combined with octanol-water partition coefficients (within a factor 10 for 76% of all PACs and soils). E. crypticus mortality and reproducibility were also quantified. No enhanced mortality was observed in the 21 historically contaminated soils despite expectations from PAH spiked reference soils. Worm reproducibility weakly correlated to Clipid of PACs, though the contributing influence of metal concentrations and soil texture could not be taken into account. The good agreement of POM-derived Cpw with independent soil and lipid partitioning models further supports that soil risk assessments would improve by accounting for bioavailability. Strategies for including bioavailability in soil risk assessment are presented.

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In this study, a selective pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) method which can extract polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their oxygenated derivatives (oxy-PAHs) from contaminated soil and simultaneously separate them into two fractions was developed. The method uses extraction cells packed with a chromatographic adsorbent and extraction solvents of increasing polarity. Several experiments were conducted on both spiked and authentic contaminated soil samples. Different types of adsorbents, combinations of extraction solvents, and extraction temperatures were tested in order to find a method that could fulfill the purpose of the study. The final method was based on extraction cells packed with 2% deactivated silica gel. The PAHs were extracted with cyclohexane/dichloromethane (9:1) at 120 degrees C, after which the oxy-PAHs where extracted with cyclohexane/dichloromethane (1:3) at 150 degrees C. The PAHs and oxy-PAHs were efficiently separated into two fractions, and only trace amounts of some compounds were found in the inappropriate fraction. The recoveries of the PAHs were mostly above 70% and of the oxy-PAHs, above 90%. The linearity of the method was good, and the calibration curves for most compounds had a regression coefficient better than 0.99 and an intercept close to the origin of coordinates. When the selective PLE method was applied to seven authentic soil samples, the results were found to be in good agreement with those of a reference method based on Soxhlet extraction and silica gel cleanup and also in good agreement with the certified reference values available for one of the soils. The selective PLE method is faster and consumes less solvent than a traditional method based on separate extraction and fractionation steps. The selective PLE method is, therefore, suitable for the concurrent analysis of PAHs and oxy-PAHs during large-scale soil contamination studies. This will provide more information about the soil contamination and the levels of toxicity than an ordinary PAH analysis.