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Description
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of compounds that belong to a group of “emerging contaminants”. The presence of PAHs in the environment is widely detected. It has been confirmed that these compounds may have negative impact on organisms. Studies have shown that PAHs are suspected to be mutagenic, teratogenic and cancerogenic. One of the groups of compounds that are biomarkers of exposure to PAHs are their hydroxyl derivatives (OH-PAHs). According to the studies, OH-PAHs can also negatively influence on organisms and environment. Therefore, it is crucial to monitor the presence and concentration of PAHs, as well as OH-PAHs. One of the most common biomarkers of PAHs is 1-hydroxypyrene.
The role of biomarkers is especially important in the case of the wastewater-based epidemiology. Wastewater-based epidemiology is a special approach that allow us to obtain information about health risk by measuring the concentration of different kinds of chemical and biological markers. This approach is based on the assumption that biomarkers are metabolites of different kind of organic compounds, that are excreted by human in urine and enter wastewater treatment plant. Given the fact that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have definitely negative impact on human lives, determination of the concentration of their biomarkers seems to become very important issue. Studies have shown that one of the most accurate biomarkers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are their hydroxyl derivatives.
This work focused on determination of hydroxyl derivatives of PAHs in the wastewater samples. The tested compounds were: naphthols, fluorenols, phenanthrenols, 1-hydroxypyrene and 3-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene. The samples were collected in wastewater treatment plant in Krakow, Poland. The concentration of OH-PAHs was measured using ultra performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry.