The correlation between a compound’s tendency to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and its photo-induced toxicity to aquatic organisms is well documented, but systematic measurement of ROSproduction in biorelevant solvents has not been reported. In this study, singlet oxygen production by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was measured in octanol and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), bio-relevant solvents, to assess their potential to affect the health of aquatic species subjected to natural oil seeps or man-made oil spills. A spectrophotometric assay used p-nitrosodimethylaniline (RNO) bleaching to measure the amount of singlet oxygen generated by photoirradiated PAHs. RNO bleaching indicates that anthracene singlet oxygen production in SLS is much higher than that in octanol. On the other hand, pyrene singlet oxygen production in SLS is similar to that observed in octanol. Anthracene exhibited an RNO oxidation rate that was 2 – 8 times larger than that of other PAHs selected to cover a range of phototoxic activity. This is the opposite of the singlet oxygen quantum yield reported for these compounds in nonpolar solvent. These results suggest that the sensitizer environment can have a significant impact on ROS production rates.

Quantification of aqueous pollutant phototoxicity: Singlet oxygen production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in octanol

251st National Meeting (2016)

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