title: An efficient laboratory workflow for environmental risk assessment of organic chemicals.
abstract: In this study, we demonstrate a fast and efficient workflow to investigate the transformation mechanism of organic chemicals and evaluate the toxicity of their transformation products (TPs) in laboratory scale. The transformation process of organic chemicals was first simulated by electrochemistry coupled online to mass spectrometry (EC-MS). The simulated reactions were scaled up in a batch EC reactor to receive larger amounts of a reaction mixture. The mixture sample was purified and concentrated by solid phase extraction (SPE) for the further ecotoxicological testing. The combined toxicity of the reaction mixture was evaluated in fish egg test (FET) (Danio rerio) compared to the parent compound. The workflow was verified with carbamazepine (CBZ). By using EC-MS seven primary TPs of CBZ were identified; the degradation mechanism was elucidated and confirmed by comparison to literature. The reaction mixture and one primary product (acridine) showed higher ecotoxicity in fish egg assay with 96 h EC50 values of 1.6 and 1.0 mg L(-1) than CBZ with the value of 60.8 mg L(-1). The results highlight the importance of transformation mechanism study and toxicological effect evaluation for organic chemicals brought into the environment since transformation of them may increase the toxicity. The developed process contributes a fast and efficient laboratory method for the risk assessment of organic chemicals and their TPs.
authors.affiliation: Research Center Jülich, ZEA-3, Jülich 52425, Germany; RWTH-Aachen University, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen 52074, Germany.
authors.forename: Linyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Research Center Jülich, ZEA-3, Jülich 52425, Germany.
authors.forename: Beatrix
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Santiago-Schübel
authors.affiliation: RWTH-Aachen University, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen 52074, Germany.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Research Center Jülich, Plant Sciences, Jülich 52425, Germany.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thiele
authors.affiliation: Tongji University, Environmental Science and Technology Department, Siping Road 1239, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhiliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Tongji University, Environmental Science and Technology Department, Siping Road 1239, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: RWTH-Aachen University, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen 52074, Germany; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Xianlin Avenue 163, Nanjing 210046, People's Republic of China; College of Resources and Environmental Science, Chongqing University, Tiansheng Road Beibei 1, Chongqing 400030, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Yangtze Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Siping Road 1239, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Henner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hollert
authors.affiliation: Research Center Jülich, ZEA-3, Jülich 52425, Germany. Electronic address: s.kueppers@fz-juelich.de.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Küppers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D054750:Ecotoxicology; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000187:drug effects; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D004867:Equipment Design; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D057188:Workflow; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D002220:Carbamazepine
keywords: Carbamazepine; Ecotoxicity; Electrochemistry–mass spectrometry; Organic pollutants; Risk assessment