Shanshan Zhang, Rong Jin*, Wenbin Liu*, Yuyang Zhao, Guohua Zhu, Chunci Chen, Tianao Mao, Yahui Liu, Yueyao Yang, Xin Li and Wanting Qiao,
{"title":"Widespread p-Phenylenediamine Derivatives in Indoor and Outdoor Dust: Occurrence, Fate, and Exposure","authors":"Shanshan Zhang, Rong Jin*, Wenbin Liu*, Yuyang Zhao, Guohua Zhu, Chunci Chen, Tianao Mao, Yahui Liu, Yueyao Yang, Xin Li and Wanting Qiao, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0070110.1021/acs.estlett.4c00701","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00701https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00701","url":null,"abstract":"<p >p-Phenylenediamines (PPDs) are emerging pollutants in the environment due to their extensive application in rubber-related products, yet their potential indoor exposure has been largely overlooked. This study investigated the occurrence characteristics of PPDs and their oxidative products (PPD-Qs) in dust from indoor, i.e., auto repair workshops, hardware malls, and home furnishings markets, as well as outdoor environments, i.e., highway and motorway intersections, revealed the influencing factors for transformation, and assessed associated exposure risks. The presence of PPDs and PPD-Qs in specific indoor environments has been documented. Particularly high levels of these compounds were observed in dust from auto repair workshops (median: 1.68 × 10<sup>3</sup> ng/g (PPDs) and 421 ng/g (PPD-Qs). The indicator monomers for PPDs and PPD-Qs emitted from different sources were identified. Furthermore, through concentration analysis and theoretical calculations, the transformation from PPDs to PPD-Qs was revealed to be influenced by the total organic carbon and transition metals present in the dust with Fe<sup>3+</sup> and Cu<sup>2+</sup> acting as the most effective catalysts. Finally, occupational populations in environments such as auto repair workshops were found to face extremely high exposure levels. This study emphasizes the need to recognize and address the risks associated with these compounds indoors.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142402994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jie Shen, Xiaomeng Ji, Jiefeng Liang, Xiaoxia Feng, Xiaoyun Liu, Yingjun Wang, Qingzhe Zhang, Qiu Zhang*, Guangbo Qu, Bing Yan and Runzeng Liu*,
{"title":"Elevated Levels of Photoinitiators in Nail Salon Workers’ Hand Wipes and Occupational Risk Estimation","authors":"Jie Shen, Xiaomeng Ji, Jiefeng Liang, Xiaoxia Feng, Xiaoyun Liu, Yingjun Wang, Qingzhe Zhang, Qiu Zhang*, Guangbo Qu, Bing Yan and Runzeng Liu*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0046910.1021/acs.estlett.4c00469","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00469https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00469","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Photoinitiators (PIs) are widely used as chemical additives in various commercial products, including nail polishes, leading to major concern with regard to occupational exposure. Herein, 27 PIs, including 12 benzophenones, 8 amine co-initiators, 3 thioxanthones, and 4 phosphine oxides, were analyzed in hand wipes from nail salon workers and controls. Twenty-four PIs were identified in hand wipes collected from nail salon workers, with concentrations ranging from 133 to 5.06 × 10<sup>4</sup> ng/wipe (median: 4.26 × 10<sup>3</sup> ng/wipe), which were significantly higher than those of control workers (median: 59.4 ng/wipe). Particularly, 1-hydroxycyclohexylphenylketone (median: 1.27 × 10<sup>3</sup> ng/wipe) and 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide (median: 2.20 × 10<sup>3</sup> ng/wipe) were the most abundant congeners in hand wipes of nail salon workers, respectively contributing 42% and 57% to the total PI concentrations. An artificial skin model experiment found that 3–30% of PIs on human skin could be absorbed by human bodies. The estimated daily intakes, based on median concentrations for nail salon workers via dermal and hand-to-mouth contacts, were 5.17 and 0.32 ng/kg bw/day, respectively, significantly higher than those of the general population. This is the first study investigating PIs on human hands, providing solid evidence of dermal exposure to PIs for nail salon workers and the general population.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142408192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wenfei Zhu, Song Guo*, Jialin Shi, Kai Song, Ying Yu, Rui Tan, Shengrong Lou, Jun Chen, Liping Qiao and Min Hu,
{"title":"Novel Findings on Molecular SOA Fingerprint Lists: Implications for Interaction of Multiprecursor Oxidation","authors":"Wenfei Zhu, Song Guo*, Jialin Shi, Kai Song, Ying Yu, Rui Tan, Shengrong Lou, Jun Chen, Liping Qiao and Min Hu, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0058510.1021/acs.estlett.4c00585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00585https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00585","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The molecular compositions and formation mechanisms of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) remain incompletely understood. Measurement of SOA fingerprints is vitally important in revealing precursor interactions in mixed systems. In this work, anthropogenic (naphthalene (Nap) and 2-methyl naphthalene (2-MN)) and biogenic (α-pinene (Alp)) precursors and their mixture are OH-oxidized in a chamber to investigate the interaction of precursors on SOA formation. Organics formed from the single and mixed precursor systems are analyzed by using a thermal desorption comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–mass spectrometer (TD-GC×GC-MS). A pixel-based nontargeted analysis technique is deployed to resolve the mass spectra. Nearly 70% of the total response is resolved at the molecular level. The “full spectrum” template is then applied to identify SOA markers with the combination of enhancement ratios of blob quantifier responses. We found that all SOA markers in mixed systems are related to Alp, including 8-hydroxycarvotanacetone, and 5-isopropenyl-2-methyl-7-oxabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-2-ol. SOA markers of Nap and 2-MN are suppressed in mixed systems, indicating the complexity of the SOA formation mechanism under mixed-precursor conditions. Our work first provides reliable SOA fingerprint lists, which are beneficial in understanding SOA formation mechanisms and modeling.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142403999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
RenXi Ye, Teles C. Furlani, Andrew P. Folkerson, Scott A. Mabury, Trevor C. VandenBoer and Cora J. Young*,
{"title":"A Method to Measure Total Gaseous Fluorine","authors":"RenXi Ye, Teles C. Furlani, Andrew P. Folkerson, Scott A. Mabury, Trevor C. VandenBoer and Cora J. Young*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0055310.1021/acs.estlett.4c00553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00553https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00553","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Total fluorine (TF) analysis is a powerful tool for the characterization of organofluorine contaminants in the environment. Organofluorine compounds are known primarily with respect to the notorious poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and as potent greenhouse gases that can impact the climate. The use of targeted methods for every organofluorine compound in the environment is not feasible. While methods are available for TF analysis of condensed phase samples, no technique exists for gas phase TF measurements (TF<sub>g</sub>). Herein we demonstrate an in situ instrumental method for TF<sub>g</sub> via platinum catalyzed thermolysis at 1000 °C in the presence of propane. TF<sub>g</sub> is fully converted into HF and subsequently quantified by an ion selective electrode or ion chromatography for F<sup>–</sup>. The method was validated using nine organofluorine compounds with differing functional groups. We characterized TF<sub>g</sub> and compared it to common speciated measurements in the headspace of four commercial fluorosurfactants and outdoor air. Most TF<sub>g</sub> (65.0–99.8% or 1.5–10.2 ppmv F) in the fluorosurfactant headspace was unknown. In outdoor air, >50% of TF<sub>g</sub> (7.2–24.2 ppmv F) was unknown. These high quantities of unknown organofluorine indicate a measurement gap in the gas phase, which could have important implications for atmospheric sources and the burdens of PFAS and fluorinated greenhouse gases.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142408140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A 60-Year Increase in the Ultrashort-Chain PFAS Trifluoroacetate and Its Suitability as a Tracer for Groundwater Age","authors":"Christian N. Albers*, and , Jürgen Sültenfuss, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0052510.1021/acs.estlett.4c00525","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00525https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00525","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Trifluoracetate (TFA) is an extremely mobile and persistent ultra-short-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), found ubiquitously in the environment. Oxidation of certain fluorinated gases in the atmosphere is considered the primary source of TFA in the terrestrial environment, and the combined change in gas type and increased usage would therefore expectedly lead to an increased TFA burden over the last few decades. Here, we show that the concentration of TFA in 113 Danish groundwater monitoring wells is strongly correlated to the groundwater recharge year, as derived from the tritium-helium dating method. TFA was not detected in tritium-free groundwater recharged before 1960, while it was detected at low concentrations in most samples recharged between 1960 and 1980. Groundwater recharged after 1980 had at least 0.1 μg/L TFA, and the concentration increased with time. Shallow groundwater from natural “background” areas revealed some variation of TFA even with diffuse atmospheric deposition as the only source, but additional local sources must contribute TFA to some of the monitoring wells. As an important side aspect, TFA may prove very useful as a simple indicator of groundwater age, such as the presence of young water in a groundwater abstraction well.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142403998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaochan An*, Yaxin Xiang, Sijia Ming, Ke Zhang, Hongbing Luo, Liangqian Fan, Wancen Xie and Jinsong He*,
{"title":"The Permeability-Selectivity of Polyamide-Based Membranes: Role of Ambient Temperature in the Interfacial Polymerization","authors":"Xiaochan An*, Yaxin Xiang, Sijia Ming, Ke Zhang, Hongbing Luo, Liangqian Fan, Wancen Xie and Jinsong He*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0064910.1021/acs.estlett.4c00649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00649https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00649","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The thin-film composite (TFC) membrane is the state-of-art membrane for the nanofiltration process. The polyamide active layer of the TFC membrane formed through interfacial polymerization and temperature control during the fabrication process plays an important role in membrane permeability-selectivity. However, the commonly used ambient temperature in membrane production workshops has not been studied systematically. Here, under an ambient temperature range from 10 to 25 °C, we fabricated polyamide layers on a free interface between the aqueous phase and organic phase and on the traditional PES support interface, respectively. We observed polyamide morphologies using the infrared thermal imager for the free interface and SEM for the support interface, respectively. We found that a minor change in ambient temperature could switch the polyamide from a ridge-like to bubble-like morphology. Moreover, with increasing the temperature of the fabrication process from 10 to 25 °C, the pure water permeance exhibited a decline of 38.94%, and the monodivalent selectivity presented a 12.04-fold increase. These findings highlight that the daily ambient temperature of membrane-based enterprises should be fully considered and reasonably used to decrease the production costs in both initial site selection and membrane production stability. Additionally, the permeability-selectivity of the TFC membrane could be tailored through temperature control in a membrane production workshop.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142404051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tianren Wu, Tatjana Müller, Nijing Wang, Joseph Byron, Sarka Langer, Jonathan Williams and Dusan Licina*,
{"title":"Indoor Emission, Oxidation, and New Particle Formation of Personal Care Product Related Volatile Organic Compounds","authors":"Tianren Wu, Tatjana Müller, Nijing Wang, Joseph Byron, Sarka Langer, Jonathan Williams and Dusan Licina*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0035310.1021/acs.estlett.4c00353","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00353https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00353","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Personal care products (PCPs) contain diverse volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and routine use of PCPs indoors has important implications for indoor air quality and human chemical exposures. This chamber study deployed aerosol instrumentation and two online mass spectrometers to quantify VOC emissions from the indoor use of five fragranced PCPs and examined the formation of gas-phase oxidation products and particles upon ozone-initiated oxidation of reactive VOCs. The tested PCPs include a perfume, a roll-on deodorant, a body spray, a hair spray, and a hand lotion. Indoor use of these PCPs emitted over 200 VOCs and resulted in indoor VOC mixing ratios of several parts per million. The VOC emission factors for the PCPs varied from 2 to 964 mg g<sup>–1</sup>. We identified strong emissions of terpenes and their derivatives, which are likely used as fragrant additives in the PCPs. When using the PCPs in the presence of indoor ozone, these reactive VOCs underwent oxidation reactions to form a variety of gas-phase oxidized vapors and led to rapid new particle formation (NPF) events with particle growth rates up to ten times higher than outdoor atmospheric NPF events. The resulting ultrafine particle concentrations reach ∼34000 to ∼200000 cm<sup>–3</sup> during the NPF events.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00353","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142407454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dagny Aurich*, Emma L. Schymanski*, Flavio de Jesus Matias, Paul A. Thiessen and Jun Pang,
{"title":"Revealing Chemical Trends: Insights from Data-Driven Visualization and Patent Analysis in Exposomics Research","authors":"Dagny Aurich*, Emma L. Schymanski*, Flavio de Jesus Matias, Paul A. Thiessen and Jun Pang, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0056010.1021/acs.estlett.4c00560","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00560https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00560","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Understanding historical chemical usage is crucial for assessing current and past impacts on human health and the environment and for informing future regulatory decisions. However, past monitoring data are often limited in scope and number of chemicals, while suitable sample types are not always available for remeasurement. Data-driven cheminformatics methods for patent and literature data offer several opportunities to fill this gap. The <i>chemical stripes</i> were developed as an interactive, open source tool for visualizing patent and literature trends over time, inspired by the global warming and biodiversity stripes. This paper details the underlying code and data sets behind the visualization, with a major focus on the patent data sourced from PubChem, including patent origins, uses, and countries. Overall trends and specific examples are investigated in greater detail to explore both the promise and caveats that such data offer in assessing the trends and patterns of chemical patents over time and across different geographic regions. Despite a number of potential artifacts associated with patent data extraction, the integration of cheminformatics, statistical analysis, and data visualization tools can help generate valuable insights that can both illuminate the chemical past and potentially serve toward an early warning system for the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00560","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142403264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Leyang Liu, Xi Liu, Ruifeng Zhang, Masao Gen, Chak K. Chan, Shaojie Song and Xuan Wang*,
{"title":"Global Impact of Particulate Nitrate Photolysis on Fine Sulfate Aerosol","authors":"Leyang Liu, Xi Liu, Ruifeng Zhang, Masao Gen, Chak K. Chan, Shaojie Song and Xuan Wang*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0041610.1021/acs.estlett.4c00416","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00416https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00416","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Recent studies have suggested that particulate nitrate (NO<sub>3</sub><sup>–</sup>) photolysis could be an important source of atmospheric oxidants, and one of its main products, N(III), contributes to the heterogeneous formation of sulfate (SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2–</sup>) in aerosol water─a potential missing source of SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2–</sup> in polluted environments. However, its effects on SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2–</sup>and air quality in different regions remain unexplored. In this study, we implement a detailed model representation of SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2–</sup> formation via NO<sub>3</sub><sup>–</sup> photolysis into the global chemical transport model GEOS-Chem. Our results find considerable impacts of NO<sub>3</sub><sup>–</sup> photolysis on surface SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2–</sup>, especially over India and other coastal regions (up to 15% increment of annual average concentrations), which were previously unaccounted for in most models. The effects are mainly due to S(IV) oxidation by OH, H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, and O<sub>3</sub> following renoxification, which outcompetes aqueous oxidation by N(III), contrary to previous laboratory and modeling studies. Further analysis suggests that past studies might have underestimated the particle-to-gas transfer of N(III) in ambient aerosols. We suggest that future modeling works should use experiment-derived parameters with caution and a thorough understanding of the mechanism before implementing them into models, especially when dealing with those from large particles or bulk solutions involving mass transfer.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142159536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}