Determination of UV filters and antimicrobial agents in environmental water samples

Abstract

Although there is increasing concern about residues from personal care products entering the aquatic environment and their potential to accumulate to levels that pose a health threat to humans and wildlife, we still know little about the extent and magnitude of their presence in the aquatic environment. In this study we describe a procedure for isolation, and subsequent determination, of compounds commonly added to personal care products. The compounds of interest include UV filters with the commercial name Eusolex (homosalate, 4-methylbenzylidenecamphor, benzophenone-3, octocrylene, butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate) and two common anti-microbial agents, clorophene and triclosan. Water samples were filtered, acidified, and extracted by use of solid-phase extraction. Extracted compounds were then derivatised before analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. By use of our method we obtained limits of detection of 13-266 ng L(-1) for UV filters, and 10-186 ng L(-1) for triclosan and clorophene. Recoveries were 82-98% for deionised water and 50-98% for natural water (seawater, pool water, lake water, and river water). Samples collected in Slovenia included seventeen recreational waters (seawater, pool water, lake water, and river water; August 2004) and four wastewaters (January 2005). The most abundant UV filter was benzophenone-3 (11-400 ng L(-1)). Of the two anti-microbial agents studied, trace amounts, only, of triclosan were present in the river Kolpa (68 ng L(-1)) and in an hospital effluent (122 ng L(-1)).

Occurrence and removal of benzotriazoles and ultraviolet filters in a municipal wastewater treatment plant

“…The presence of BTs and UV filters in surface water Cuderman and Heath, 2007;Kiss and Fries, 2009), ground water (Cancilla et al, 1998(Cancilla et al, , 2003, sediment (Rodil and Moeder, 2008;Zhang et al, 2011), sewage sludge Zhang et al, 2011) and fish (Nagtegaal et al, 1997;Buser et al, 2006) has been reported in literature. From the limited acute toxicity data available in the literature, BTs have relatively low acute toxicity with the reported no-observed-effect-concentrations (NOEC) usually in the mg/L range (Pillard et al, 2001;Kadar et al, 2010).…”

Applications of molecularly imprinted polymers to the analysis and removal of personal care products: A review

“…Most of these chemicals are lipophilic (log Kow higher than 3.5), presenting a high potential of bioaccumulation [8]. They have been detected in surface waters, ground waters and drinking waters sources [9][10][11], as well as in several aquatic organisms in concentrations in the range of ng.L -1 [12,13]. Their occurrence at such a low concentration is one of the main obstacles for their routine detection and analysis in complex samples [14].…”

Impact of Pregnancy on the Levels of the Sunscreen Agent Benzophenone-3: Data from NHANES 2005-2010

“…It is also used in many other consumer products, for example, as fragrance and flavor enhancer, photoinitiator, ultraviolet curing agent, and polymerization inhibitor [1]. BP-3 has also been detected in both raw and water treated by water filtration plants [2] in California, in waste water in Slovenia and in Switzerland [3,4]. BP-3 has been detected in urine of pregnant females and more than half of the amniotic fluid samples [5] with a high correlation of 0.53 between their concentrations in maternal urine and amniotic fluid.…”