Academician Jiang Guibin's Studio at HIAS School of Environmentinvestigated organophosphate tri-esters (tri-OPEs) and organophosphate diesters (di-OPEs) based on the proglacial and ocean sediments from Ny-Ålesund, the Arctic, and analyzed the occurrence, contamination source and environmental transformation of OPEs. The research findings were published inEnvironmental Science & Technology, a top journal in environmental sciences, under the title "Source Identification of Organophosphate Esters through the Profiles in Proglacial and Ocean Sediments from Ny-Ålesund, the Arctic"(https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c06747), which was also selected as the supplementary journal cover.
Figure 1. Cover of the Paper
The global consumption and emissions of organophosphate esters (OPEs) are increasing as traditional brominated flame retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) are included in the Stockholm Convention and their production and use are restricted. OPEs, which are widely detected in the global environment, show potential bioaccumulation and ecological/health risks in some studies, have become an emerging pollutant of great concern in the field of environmental sciences.
Figure 2. Occurrence, Contamination Source and Transformation of OPEs in Proglacial and Ocean Sediments from the Arctic
Remote areas are natural laboratories for studying the transport and transformation of OPEs. At present, there is still a lack of research on the occurrence, source identification and environmental transformation of OPEs in remote areas.The paper innovatively selected the proglacial sediment from Ny-Ålesund as the medium and compared it with the ocean sediment in the same area. By analyzing the spatial distribution and occurrence of tri-OPEs and di-OPEs in both sediments, the paper revealed their differences in the containment source and transformation pathway of OPEs. The mean concentrations of tri-OPEs and di-OPEs in the proglacial sediment were significantly lower than those in ocean sediments, and chlorinated tri-OPEs with high environmental persistence and high long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) potential were dominant in the proglacial sediment (66%), indicating that OPEs in different sediments were affected by the transport pathway and their physicochemical properties. Weakly environmentally persistent and highly hydrophobic aryl tri-OPEs, with their low LRAT potential, were dominant in the ocean sediment (47%), indicating that the ocean sediment in the area was greatly influenced by local human activities. Di-OPEs in proglacial and ocean sediments were dominated by groups of parent tri-OPEs with strong photodegradability, such as alkyl (75%) and aryl (58%). A higher mean molar ratio of di-OPE/tri-OPE in the proglacial sediment (14) than that in the ocean sediment (2.2) may be related to its higher photodegradation than that of the ocean sediment, which is also consistent with the environmental conditions of the two media.
The paper revealed the contamination source, transport pathway and transformation mechanism of OPEs through the comparative study of two similar media from different locations in the same study area, providing a new idea for tracing the source and analyzing the environmental behavior of emerging pollutants in remote areas.The present study reported a pervasive occurrence of di-OPEs, but there is still a lack of research on the environmental behavior of di-OPEs. Tri-OPEs may generate di-OPEs with higher toxicity during the transformation process. Future studies, combining suspect and nontarget analysis, will pay more attention to the occurrence and bioaccumulation of OPEs and their transformation products in the environments and biota as well as the potential joint toxicity.
The first author of the paper is assistant research fellow Fu Jie, and the corresponding author is research fellow Fu Jianjie. The research was supported by the Excellent Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program, and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS.
Typesetter | Yan Hao
Source | School of Environment
Executive Editor | Yan Hao
