Department of Chemistry, Kennedy College of Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Olney Hall 525, One University Ave. Lowell, MA 01854, USA.
Department of Public Health, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 61 Wilder St., O'Leary 540D, Lowell, MA 01854, USA.
Ann Work Expo Health. 2021 Jun 12;65(5):539-553. doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxaa138.
Epoxy resins are extremely versatile products that are widely used in construction for coatings, adhesives, primers, and sealers. Occupational exposures to epoxies cause allergic contact dermatitis, occupational asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (epoxy-resin lung) and acute decline in lung function. Despite these health concerns, there is a striking paucity of quantitative exposure data to epoxy resins in construction. The lack of practical analytical methods and suitable personal samplers for monitoring of reactive two-component epoxide systems in real-world applications has been an unmet challenge for decades. Sampling and analysis methods for epoxies should be able to collect the paint aerosols efficiently, stop polymerization reactions at the time of sample collection, and subsequently provide detailed multispecies characterization of epoxides, as well as the total epoxide group (TEG) content of a sample, to properly document the chemical composition of exposures to epoxide paints. In this work, we present the development and application of two new complementary quantitative analytical methods-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with online ultraviolet detection and ion chromatography (IC)-for multispecies characterization of raw products, as well as inhalation and skin exposures to epoxy formulations in real-world construction applications. A novel personal sampler, CIP-10MI, was used for personal sampling of airborne epoxies. We report for the first time the results of personal inhalation and potential skin exposures to individual monomers and oligomers of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE), as well as TEG, during metal structure coatings in construction; compare analytical results of the two analytical methods; and provide recommendations for method selection in future field studies. High inhalation and potential skin exposures to epoxies point to the need for interventions to reduce exposures among painters in construction.
环氧树脂是用途广泛的产品，广泛用于建筑领域的涂料、粘合剂、底漆和密封剂。职业接触环氧树脂会导致过敏性接触性皮炎、职业性哮喘、过敏性肺炎（环氧树脂肺）和肺功能急性下降。尽管存在这些健康问题，但在建筑行业中，环氧树脂的定量暴露数据却非常缺乏。几十年来，缺乏实用的分析方法和适合的个人采样器来监测实际应用中双组分环氧化物体系的反应性一直是一个未得到满足的挑战。环氧树脂的采样和分析方法应该能够有效地收集涂料气溶胶，在采样时停止聚合反应，并随后对环氧树脂进行详细的多物种特征分析，以及样品的总环氧化物组（TEG）含量，以正确记录环氧树脂涂料暴露的化学成分。在这项工作中，我们提出了两种新的互补定量分析方法——液相色谱-串联质谱法结合在线紫外检测和离子色谱法（IC）——的开发和应用，用于原始产品、实际建筑应用中环氧树脂配方的吸入和皮肤暴露的多物种特征分析。一种新型的个人采样器 CIP-10MI 用于空气中环氧树脂的个人采样。我们首次报告了在建筑中的金属结构涂料中，个人吸入和潜在皮肤暴露于双酚 A 二缩水甘油醚（BADGE）的单个单体和低聚物以及 TEG 的情况；比较了两种分析方法的分析结果；并为未来现场研究中的方法选择提供了建议。高吸入和潜在皮肤暴露于环氧树脂表明需要采取干预措施来减少建筑工人的暴露。
