Medical Research Council Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, 86 Wood Lane, London W12 0BZ, UK.
Hochschule Fresenius gem. GmbH, Limburger Str. 2, 65510 Idstein, Germany.
Molecules. 2021 Sep 7;26(18):5431. doi: 10.3390/molecules26185431.
The rapid source identification and environmental risk assessment (ERA) of hundreds of chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) in river water represent a significant analytical challenge. Herein, a potential solution involving a rapid direct-injection liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantitative determination of 102 CECs (151 qualitatively) in river water is presented and applied across six rivers in Germany and Switzerland at high spatial resolution. The method required an injection volume of only 10 µL of filtered sample, with a runtime of 5.5 min including re-equilibration with >10 datapoints per peak per transition (mostly 2 per compound), and 36 stable isotope-labelled standards. Performance was excellent from the low ng/L to µg/L concentration level, with 260 injections possible in any 24 h period. The method was applied in three separate campaigns focusing on the ERA of rivers impacted by wastewater effluent discharges (1 urban area in the Basel city region with 4 rivers, as well as 1 semi-rural and 1 rural area, each focusing on 1 river). Between 25 and 40 compounds were quantified directly in each campaign, and in all cases small tributary rivers showed higher CEC concentrations (e.g., up to ~4000 ng/L in total in the R. Schwarzach, Bavaria, Germany). The source of selected CECs could also be identified and differentiated from other sources at pre- and post- wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge points, as well as the effect of dilution downstream, which occurred over very short distances in all cases. Lastly, ERA for 41 CECs was performed at specific impacted sites, with risk quotients (RQs) at 1 or more sites estimated as high risk (RQ > 10) for 1 pharmaceutical (diclofenac), medium risk (RQ of 1-10) for 3 CECs (carbamazepine, venlafaxine, and sulfamethoxazole), and low risk (RQ = 0.1-1.0) for 7 CECs (i.e., RQ > 0.1 for 11 CECs in total). The application of high-throughput methods like this could enable a better understanding of the risks of CECs, especially in low flow/volume tributary rivers at scale and with high resolution.
快速识别河流水中数百种新兴关注化学物质（CECs）的源头并进行环境风险评估（ERA）是一项重大的分析挑战。在此，提出了一种潜在的解决方案，涉及一种快速直接进样液相色谱-串联质谱法，用于定量测定德国和瑞士 6 条河流中 102 种 CECs（151 种定性）。该方法仅需 10μL 过滤样品的进样量，运行时间为 5.5 分钟，包括每个峰每个跃迁（大多数为每个化合物 2 个）有 10 多个数据点重新平衡，以及 36 个稳定同位素标记标准品。该方法从低 ng/L 到 µg/L 浓度水平的性能都非常出色，在任何 24 小时内可进行 260 次注射。该方法在三个单独的研究中应用，重点是评估受废水排放影响的河流的 ERA，包括巴塞尔城市地区的 1 个城市区域的 4 条河流，以及 1 个半农村和 1 个农村地区的 1 条河流。每个研究中都直接定量了 25 到 40 种化合物，并且在所有情况下，小支流河流的 CEC 浓度更高（例如，在德国巴伐利亚的 R. Schwarzach 河，总浓度高达约 4000ng/L）。还可以在预处理和废水处理厂排放点以及下游稀释处识别和区分选定 CEC 的来源，在所有情况下，稀释都发生在非常短的距离内。最后，在特定的受影响地点进行了 41 种 CEC 的 ERA，在 1 个或更多地点的风险商数（RQ）估计为高风险（RQ>10）的有 1 种药物（双氯芬酸），3 种 CECs（卡马西平、文拉法辛和磺胺甲恶唑）为中等风险（RQ 为 1-10），7 种 CECs 为低风险（RQ=0.1-1.0）（即，总共有 11 种 CEC 的 RQ>0.1）。像这样的高通量方法的应用可以更好地了解 CECs 的风险，特别是在低流量/体积支流河流的规模和高分辨率上。
