Toxicity of model aliphatic amines and their chlorinated forms

Abstract

Aliphatic amines can be found in many wastewater effluents from industry, agriculture, pharmacy, and food processing. Amines can induce toxicological responses that are relevant in biochemical treatment processes, as well as in natural waters. This research compared the toxicity and inhibition caused by three aliphatic amines (n-propylamine, ethylmethylamine, and trimethylamine) and their chlorinated derivatives. The chemistry of chlorine interactions with these compounds was characterized by using membrane introduction mass spectrometry (MIMS). Acute toxicity assays were conducted by using a Microtox system with Phosphobacterium phosphoreum (also known as Vibrio fischeri) for the aliphatic amine compounds and their corresponding chlorinated derivatives, as identified by MIMS. Inhibition tests were conducted by using the oxygen utilization rate test with an enhanced nitrifier culture. The median effective concentration (EC50) values for chloropropylamine, chloroethylmethylamine, and chlorodimethylamine obtained by Microtox with a contact time of 15 min were 12.68, 19.72, and 15.92 microM, respectively. The EC50 values of these aliphatic chloramines from the Microtox test decreased by roughly one order of magnitude as a result of chlorination. Inhibition of nitrifiers also was observed in these amines. Trimethylamine and n-propylamine caused greater inhibition to nitrifiers than did ethylmethylamine under similar concentrations. Nitrifier inhibition from these amines increased after chlorination. The results of these tests indicated that aliphatic amines and their chlorinated derivatives could induce environmentally relevant toxicity responses in treatment settings and in receiving waters.

Toxicity assessment of meat-processing wastewater

“…Among them are residues of food additives, improving agents, structureand color stabilizers (nitrites, phosphates), as well as detergent and disinfectants used in production and washed with water. They can significantly increase the toxicity of the wastewater composition [22][23].…”

Fabrication and evaluation of Au–Pd core-shell nanocomposites for dechlorination of diclofenac in water

“…[22,23] Moreover, these techniques are unable to cleave the carbon-halogen bond, and there is still existence of halogenated compounds, which are one important type of toxic organic pollutants. [24,25] Other techniques such as sorption on activated carbon or retention by membranes may alternatively be employed to remove halogenated compounds in effluents, [21,[26][27][28][29][30] but still there is difficulty to solve the toxicity issue of the concentrated residual fraction. Though organochlorine respiring bacteria can be used to dechlorinate DCF, it is a very slow process that cannot be applied in the real water treatment.…”

Detection of low concentrations of volatile amines in aqueous solutions using pH-dependent fluorophores

“…Some toxic amines are formed during chemical manufacturing, such as the production of fertilizers, plastics, petroleum refining, energy production, and others. Aliphatic amines can be detected in the plants of agricultural and food industry [1]. The release of amines upon exhalation can be used in clinical diagnostics of various diseases [2].…”