Rapid collection, detection, and assessment of environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

PAHs, an important class of environmental chemical contaminants found primarily in petroleum and coal products, frequently are the most numerous and ubiquitous organic pollutants recovered in sediment residues. PAHs are considered hazardous in water and soil because many are acutely toxic and have the potential for genotoxic activity. Selected EPA priority pollutants (2, 3, 4, and 5-ring PAHs) and complex PAH mixtures (crude oil, gasoline, and recycled motor oil) were collected and concentrated from water and sediment with semipermeable polymeric membrane devices (SPMDs) that contain a thin film of triolein. Analytes were extracted from the SPMDs by dialysis in hexane or directly by rinsing with acetone DMSO, concentrated in the carrier solvent DMSO, and detected with the luminescent bacterial assays Microtox reg-sign and Mutatox reg-sign. High SPMD-water concentration factors of PAHs appeared to correspond closely to the occurrence of PAHs in sediments previously reported in the literature; for example, pyrene had the highest SPMD concentration factor and was the most commonly found PAH in sediment residues. Mutatox reg-sign with rat hepatic S9 activation detected all PAHs tested. The PAH's molecular weight and number of rings appeared to directly influence acute toxicity (EC50, microg/mL); for example, two-ring naphthalene had an EC50 value of 0.78 whereas five-ring benzo(a)pyrene had an EC50 value of 15.0, about a twenty-fold difference, Microtox reg-sign and Mutatox reg-sign, in combination with SPMDs were able to rapidly (< 24h) assess the bioavailability, toxicity, and genotoxicity of these environmental PAHs