Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg C, Denmark; Section of Forensic Chemistry, Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Frederik V's vej 11, 2100, København Ø, Denmark.
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Department of Geochemistry, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Environ Pollut. 2021 Sep 15;285:117264. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117264. Epub 2021 Apr 28.
When assessing oil spills in marine environments, focus has often been on describing degradation and removal of hydrocarbons. However, more and more attention is now given to the formation of mineral oil transformation products, and their potential toxicity and persistency in the environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the formation of dissolved acidic degradation products from crude oil in sea water from the Persian Gulf in a lab-experiment. A super-complex mixture of acidic degradation products was formed in the water phase and compound groups of aliphatic acids, monocyclic aromatic acids-, and polycyclic aromatic acids were identified. More specifically, alkylated PAHs were biodegraded to a high number of aromatic, carboxylic acids by hydroxylation of the alkyl side chains. These degradation products are more bioavailable than their parent compounds, and may therefore constitute a new group of contaminants that should be considered in oil spill assessments.
当评估海洋环境中的石油泄漏时，人们通常关注的是描述碳氢化合物的降解和去除。然而，现在越来越多的人关注矿物油转化产物的形成，以及它们在环境中的潜在毒性和持久性。本研究的目的是在实验室实验中研究从波斯湾海水中的原油形成的溶解酸性降解产物。在水相中形成了一种超级复杂的酸性降解产物混合物，并鉴定出了脂肪族酸、单环芳烃酸和多环芳烃酸的化合物组。具体来说，烷基化多环芳烃通过烷基侧链的羟化作用被生物降解为大量芳香族羧酸。这些降解产物比其母体化合物更具生物可利用性，因此可能构成了一类新的污染物，在石油泄漏评估中应予以考虑。
