title: Chemical fate and genotoxic risk associated with hypochlorite treatment of nicotine.
abstract: Nicotine, the main alkaloid of tobacco, is a non- prescription drug to which all members of a tobacco-smoking society are exposed either through direct smoke inhalation or through second-hand passive 'smoking'. Nicotine is also commercially available in some pharmaceutical products and is used worldwide as a botanical insecticide in agriculture. Nicotine dynamics in indoor and outdoor environments as well as the human excretions and the manufacturing process are responsible for its entry in the environment through municipal and industrial wastewater discharges. The presence of nicotine in surface and ground waters points out that it survives a conventional treatment process and persists in potable-water supplies. Complete removal of nicotine is instead reported when additional chlorination steps are used. In this paper a simulation of STP chlorination of nicotine and a genotoxic evaluation of its main degradation products are reported. Under laboratory conditions removal of nicotine seems not to be due to mineralization but to transformation in oxidized and chlorinated products. The by-products have been isolated after fractionation by diverse chromatographic procedures and their structures determined using mass spectrometry and (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. Preliminary genotoxic SOS Chromotests with Escherichia coli PQ37 evidence no toxicity of the products.
authors.affiliation: UdR Napoli 4 Consorzio INCA, IC-REACH, Department of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, University Federico II, Naples, Italy. zarrelli@unina.it
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zarrelli
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: DellaGreca
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parolisi
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Iesce
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cermola
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Temussi
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Isidori
authors.forename: Margherita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lavorgna
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Passananti
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Previtera
mesh_terms: D006997:Hypochlorous Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D009153:Mutagens / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D009538:Nicotine / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D012907:Smoking; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D009538:Nicotine; D006997:Hypochlorous Acid