Development of an analytical method for the determination of emerging pollutants in tissues of stranded cetaceans

Abstract

Research on marine pollution has been commonly focused on compounds like pesticides or heavy metals. However, emerging pollutants such as ultraviolet filters (UVFs) and stabilizers (UVSs) are of increasing concern because their effect in the environment is not completely know. UVFs and UVSs are substances that are added to personal care products (PCPs) like cosmetics and products related with the sun care. Once released into the aquatic ecosystem, these compounds can be bioaccumulated by marine organisms. To test this fact in cetaceans, a method based on microwave-assisted extraction combined with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry detection has been optimized to determine twelve UVFs and UVSs compounds in dolphin blubber samples. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of the target compounds in blubber tissue samples of five common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Three of the twelve studied compounds, namely 2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (BP3), 2-ethylhexyl 2-cyano-3,3-diphenylprop-2-enoate (OC) and 3-methylbutyl (E)-3-(4methoxyphenyl) prop-2-enoate (IMC), were found. Among the identified compounds, OC was present in all samples and at the highest concentration, in the range from to 52,61± 18,59 to 107.99 ± 11,32 ng g-1.