Development of a Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction Procedure for Biodegradation Studies on Nonylphenol Propoxylates Under Aerobic Conditions

Abstract

Aerobic biodegradation behavior of nonylphenol propoxylates was investigated using dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction as a simple and fast technique for sample preparation. The developed method proved to be efficient for the isolation and concentration of nonylphenol propoxylates before their quantification with the use of high performance liquid chromatography. The primary biodegradation of nonylphenol propoxylates was approximately 80 % by 10 days after the beginning of the test. However, the biodegradation products which were identified with the use of mass spectrometric detection persisted for many days.

Comparison of Biodegradation of Nonylphenol Propoxylates with Usage of Two Different Sources of Activated Sludge

“…A recent study on NPPOs proved a different biodegradation of APPOs than APEOs. No shortening of the oxypropylene chain was observed during the entire test [19]. Nevertheless, formation of free nonylphenol could not be excluded even though only a limited increase of nonylphenol concentration was noted [19].…”

“…The samples from the test were separated and pre-concentrated before HPLC-MS analysis using a previously described method [19]. Briefly, a 6-mL water sample was placed in a 15-mL glass test tube with a conical bottom.…”

“…No shortening of the oxypropylene chain was observed during the entire test [19]. Nevertheless, formation of free nonylphenol could not be excluded even though only a limited increase of nonylphenol concentration was noted [19]. It is also not easy to establish a reasonable biodegradation pathway without nonylphenol as the intermediate product of the ultimate biodegradation.…”

“…Moreover, alkylphenols have been known for several years as hazardous pollutants with endocrine disruption activity [9][10][11]. Many biodegradation studies on APEOs have been carried out [12][13][14][15][16][17][18], while only one study concerning the biodegradation of APPOs is available [19]. Most studies on APEOs have proved that biodegradation of these surfactants occurs by shortening the ethoxylene chain, which leads to accumulation of alkylphenols and APEOs containing one, two or three ethoxylene units in the environment [5,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

Cloud Point‐Dispersive Liquid‐Liquid Microextraction for Extraction of Organic Acids from Biological Samples

“…DLLME can be carried out with rapid injection of the appropriate mixture of extraction solvent and dispersive solvent by syringe into aqueous sample and formation of a cloudy solution [14,15]. In comparison with other classical extraction methods DLLME have many advantages including: simplicity of operation, rapidity, low cost, high recovery and high enrichment factor [16,17]. However, in addition to the requirement of toxic extraction solvents (chlorinated solvents) usually DLLME requires the evaporation of the extraction solvent to dryness prior to analysis [18][19][20].…”