Organic ultraviolet (UV) filters are compounds used extensively in personal care products such as sunscreens and cosmetics to protect human skin from the harmful effects of solar UV radiation, and in fabrics and other products to confer product stability. They may enter aquatic environments directly during recreational activities, or indirectly via wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Recent reports have shown that these compounds occur ubiquitously in aquatic environments. Chlorination is an important disinfection technique employed in WWTPs and swimming pools for eliminating bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms. As a consequence of the presence of precursors in wastewater as well as organic substances introduced by swimmers to pool water, aqueous chlorine could react with these compounds via oxidation or substitution reactions and produce disinfection by-products such as halogenated derivatives of UV filters, which have been reported to be toxic in both <i>in vivo</i> and <i>in vitro </i>studies. Previous studies have demonstrated that UV filters can only be partially removed by conventional wastewater treatments; therefore, the remaining compounds and chlorinated by-products could then enter the aquatic environment during final effluent discharge. There is currently limited knowledge of the environmental fate of organic UV filters in terms of their degradation, and there is no data on the environmental occurrence and risks of their chlorinated by-products. A major limitation in studying the chlorinated by-products of these compounds in the environment is the lack of analytical standards for use in their quantification and for toxicity testing. As a result, the objectives of this study are to (1) synthesize and characterize chlorination by-products of benzophenone UV filters, (2) quantify these by-products and their parent compounds in aquatic samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, (3) assess the toxicity of chlorination by-products and their parent compounds, and (4) use risk assessment to understand the potential risks posed by these compounds.

Synthesis, occurrence and risk assessment of chlorinated by-products of benzophenone-type UV filters in various aquatic matrices

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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