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The use of neonicotinoid insecticides has been constantly revised because of their impact on bees, causing their decrease and bee malady. Unfortunately, because of the worldwide differences in pesticide regulation, chlothianidin is still allowed in European Union for greenhouse use and worldwide in some cases without any restictions. Lately, it was detected on soil particles and in raw and drinking waters. The preparation of drinking waters implies different purification processes, including chlorination, ozonation, and UV irradiation and nowadays advanced oxidation processes, including TiO2. The TiO2 photocatalytic degradation of chlothianidin in the presence of oxygen, nitrate, and humic acids was followed by kinetic studies, whereas the photoproducts formed were identified by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. The efficiency of different set-ups of the photocatalytic degradation of chlothianidin was evaluated by the identification of photoproducts and bioluminescence inhibition of bacteria Vibrio fischeri. The results indicate that less harmful photoproducts are generated in the samples with added humic acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flubendiamide is a ryanodine insecticide that shows a strong insecticidal activity and is relatively safe for non-target organisms. Actually only flubendiamide and its product desiodo-flubendiamide have been studied during catalytic degradation using TiO2 and ZnO. Therefore, here we tested the photocatalytic removal of flubendiamide in the presence of nitrates or humic acids. Degradation kinetics were monitored using high-performance liquid chromatography ultraviolet-visible detector. Product identification was done using a high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer coupled to a gas chromatograph (GC-HRMS). Results show that the addition of humic acids at 10 mg l−1 increased the removal of flubendiamide more than five times. The addition of nitrate ions at 10 mg l−1 had no influence. The removal of flubendiamide was more than ten times faster in experiments with oxygen purging. Fourteen degradation products were identified, which can be classified into three groups: phthalimide and related phthalic acid derivatives, fluorinated species related to the second amide moiety, and advanced transformation products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disinfection is an important step in the purification of drinking and swimming pool water. The most common procedure includes chlorination, which efficiently eliminates microorganisms. However, the reaction of active chlorine with dissolved organic matter produces numerous organochlorine compounds posing a hazard to the environment and human health. UV filters belong to emerging contaminants, as their application to skin protection from UV irradiation becomes increasingly popular all over the world. Certain components of UV filters were detected in swimming pools and result in the emergence of new ecotoxicants. In the present study, 40 compounds, including numerous brominated derivatives, which result from the chlorination of avobenzone in sea water, were identified by gas chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry. In addition, the applicability of photocatalysis to the destruction of chlorination products was studied. The procedure was found to be rather efficient and allows a decrease in the total amount of avobenzone transformation products by a factor of 10. The only compound class demonstrating stability under the applied conditions is exemplified by halogenated acetophenone derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the reactions of 4- tert-butyl-4′-methoxydibenzoylmethane (avobenzone), the most common UV filter in formulations of sunscreens, under the conditions of disinfection. Three chlorinated compounds were identified as the main products. Their structures were confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) with accurate mass measurements and by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). It was reliably proved, that the substitution involved the double bond of the enolic form of the diketone, rather than the activated aromatic ring, leading to the formation of 2-chloro-1-(4- tert-butylphenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,3-propanedione and 2,2-dichloro-1-(4- tert-butylphenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,3-propanedione as the main products. The third identified product was 2-chloro-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fate of modern personal care products in the environment is becoming a matter of increasing concern because of the growing production and assortment of these compounds. More and more chemicals of this class are treated as emerging contaminants. Transformation of commercially available products in the environment may result in the formation of a wide array of their metabolites. Personal care products in swimming pools and in drinking water reservoirs may undergo oxidation or chlorination. There is much data on the formation of more toxic metabolites from original low toxicity commercial products. Therefore, reliable identification of all possible transformation products and a thorough study of their physicochemical and biological properties are of high priority. The present study deals with the identification of the products of the aquatic chlorination of the hexyl 2-[4-(diethylamino)-2-hydroxybenzoyl]-benzoate ultraviolet filter. High-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) and HPLC/MS/MS with accurate mass measurements were used for this purpose. As a result, three chlorinated transformation products were identified. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of malathion and its four main degradation products found in irradiated solutions (malaoxon, isomalathion, diethyl maleate and O,O-dimethyl phosphate) on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) of free and immobilized bovine erythrocytes was investigated. The concentration-dependent responses to malathion and related organophosphates, malaoxon and isomalathion, of both AChE bioassays used were obtained. The IC 50 values for free and immobilized AChE (3.7 ± 0.2) × 10−4 M/(1.6 ± 0.1) × 10−4, (2.4 ± 0.3) × 10−6/(3.4 ± 0.1) × 10−6 M, and (3.2 ± 0.3) × 10−6 M/(2.7 ± 0.2) × 10−6 M were obtained in the presence of malathion, malaoxon and isomalathion, respectively. However, diethyl maleate inhibited AChE activity at concentrations ≥ 10 mM, while O,O-dimethyl phosphate did not noticeably affect enzyme activity at all investigated concentrations. The relation between the structure of the compounds and their ability to inhibit enzyme activity was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]