Luminescence Lifetime-Based Sensing Platform Based on Cyclometalated Iridium(III) Complexes for the Detection of Perfluorooctanoic Acid in Aqueous Samples

Luminescence lifetimes are an attractive analytical method for detection due to its high sensitivity and stability. Iridium probes exhibit luminescence with long excited-state lifetimes, which are sensitive to the local environment. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is listed as a chemical of high concern regarding its toxicity and is classified as a "forever chemical". In addition to strict limits on the presence of PFOA in drinking water, environmental contamination from industrial effluent or chemical spills requires rapid, simple, accurate, and cost-effective analysis in order to aid containment. Herein, we report the fabrication and function of a novel and facile luminescence sensor for PFOA based on iridium modified on gold surfaces. These surfaces were modified with lipophilic iridium complexes bearing alkyl chains, namely, IrC6 and IrC12, and Zonyl-FSA surfactant. Upon addition of PFOA, the modified surfaces IrC6-FSA@Au and IrC12-FSA @Au show the largest change in the red luminescence signal with changes in the luminescence lifetime that allow monitoring of PFOA concentrations in aqueous solutions. The platform was tested for the measurement of PFOA in aqueous samples spiked with known concentrations of PFOA and demonstrated the capacity to determine PFOA at concentrations &gt;100 μg/L (240 nM).</p

Exposure to flame retardant chemicals on commercial airplanes

Background: Flame retardant chemicals are used in materials on airplanes to slow the propagation of fire. These chemicals migrate from their source products and can be found in the dust of airplanes, creating the potential for exposure. Methods: To characterize exposure to flame retardant chemicals in airplane dust, we collected dust samples from locations inside 19 commercial airplanes parked overnight at airport gates. In addition, hand-wipe samples were also collected from 9 flight attendants and 1 passenger who had just taken a cross-country (USA) flight. The samples were analyzed for a suite of flame retardant chemicals. To identify the possible sources for the brominated flame retardants, we used a portable XRF analyzer to quantify bromine concentrations in materials inside the airplanes. Results: A wide range of flame retardant compounds were detected in 100% of the dust samples collected from airplanes, including BDEs 47, 99, 153, 183 and 209, tris(1,3-dichloro-isopropyl)phosphate (TDCPP), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-tetrabromo-phthalate (TBPH). Airplane dust contained elevated concentrations of BDE 209 (GM: 500 ug/g; range: 2,600 ug/g) relative to other indoor environments, such as residential and commercial buildings, and the hands of participants after a cross-country flight contained elevated BDE 209 concentrations relative to the general population. TDCPP, a known carcinogen that was removed from use in children’s pajamas in the 1970’s although still used today in other consumer products, was detected on 100% of airplanes in concentrations similar to those found in residential and commercial locations. Conclusion: This study adds to the limited body of knowledge regarding exposure to flame retardants on commercial aircraft, an environment long hypothesized to be at risk for maximum exposures due to strict flame retardant standards for aircraft materials. Our findings indicate that flame retardants are widely used in many airplane components and all airplane types, as expected. Most flame retardants, including TDCPP, were detected in 100% of dust samples collected from the airplanes. The concentrations of BDE 209 were elevated by orders of magnitude relative to residential and office environments

FAIR environmental and health registry (FAIREHR)- supporting the science to policy interface and life science research, development and innovation

Funding Information: Most co-authors were financialy supported with their respective inistitution. Some of the co-authors were financialy supportrd by the “Safe and Efficient Chemistry by Design (SafeChem)” project (grant no. DIA 2018/11) funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, and by the PARC project (grant no. 101057014) funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation program. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Zare Jeddi, Galea, Viegas, Fantke, Louro, Theunis, Govarts, Denys, Fillol, Rambaud, Kolossa-Gehring, Santonen, van der Voet, Ghosh, Costa, Teixeira, Verhagen, Duca, Van Nieuwenhuyse, Jones, Sams, Sepai, Tranfo, Bakker, Palmen, van Klaveren, Scheepers, Paini, Canova, von Goetz, Katsonouri, Karakitsios, Sarigiannis, Bessems, Machera, Harrad and Hopf.The environmental impact on health is an inevitable by-product of human activity. Environmental health sciences is a multidisciplinary field addressing complex issues on how people are exposed to hazardous chemicals that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations. Exposure sciences and environmental epidemiology are becoming increasingly data-driven and their efficiency and effectiveness can significantly improve by implementing the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles for scientific data management and stewardship. This will enable data integration, interoperability and (re)use while also facilitating the use of new and powerful analytical tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in the benefit of public health policy, and research, development and innovation (RDI). Early research planning is critical to ensuring data is FAIR at the outset. This entails a well-informed and planned strategy concerning the identification of appropriate data and metadata to be gathered, along with established procedures for their collection, documentation, and management. Furthermore, suitable approaches must be implemented to evaluate and ensure the quality of the data. Therefore, the ‘Europe Regional Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science’ (ISES Europe) human biomonitoring working group (ISES Europe HBM WG) proposes the development of a FAIR Environment and health registry (FAIREHR) (hereafter FAIREHR). FAIR Environment and health registry offers preregistration of studies on exposure sciences and environmental epidemiology using HBM (as a starting point) across all areas of environmental and occupational health globally. The registry is proposed to receive a dedicated web-based interface, to be electronically searchable and to be available to all relevant data providers, users and stakeholders. Planned Human biomonitoring studies would ideally be registered before formal recruitment of study participants. The resulting FAIREHR would contain public records of metadata such as study design, data management, an audit trail of major changes to planned methods, details of when the study will be completed, and links to resulting publications and data repositories when provided by the authors. The FAIREHR would function as an integrated platform designed to cater to the needs of scientists, companies, publishers, and policymakers by providing user-friendly features. The implementation of FAIREHR is expected to yield significant benefits in terms of enabling more effective utilization of human biomonitoring (HBM) data.publishersversionpublishe

FAIR environmental and health registry (FAIREHR)- supporting the science to policy interface and life science research, development and innovation

The environmental impact on health is an inevitable by-product of human activity. Environmental health sciences is a multidisciplinary field addressing complex issues on how people are exposed to hazardous chemicals that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations. Exposure sciences and environmental epidemiology are becoming increasingly data-driven and their efficiency and effectiveness can significantly improve by implementing the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles for scientific data management and stewardship. This will enable data integration, interoperability and (re)use while also facilitating the use of new and powerful analytical tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in the benefit of public health policy, and research, development and innovation (RDI). Early research planning is critical to ensuring data is FAIR at the outset. This entails a well-informed and planned strategy concerning the identification of appropriate data and metadata to be gathered, along with established procedures for their collection, documentation, and management. Furthermore, suitable approaches must be implemented to evaluate and ensure the quality of the data. Therefore, the 'Europe Regional Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science' (ISES Europe) human biomonitoring working group (ISES Europe HBM WG) proposes the development of a FAIR Environment and health registry (FAIREHR) (hereafter FAIREHR). FAIR Environment and health registry offers preregistration of studies on exposure sciences and environmental epidemiology using HBM (as a starting point) across all areas of environmental and occupational health globally. The registry is proposed to receive a dedicated web-based interface, to be electronically searchable and to be available to all relevant data providers, users and stakeholders. Planned Human biomonitoring studies would ideally be registered before formal recruitment of study participants. The resulting FAIREHR would contain public records of metadata such as study design, data management, an audit trail of major changes to planned methods, details of when the study will be completed, and links to resulting publications and data repositories when provided by the authors. The FAIREHR would function as an integrated platform designed to cater to the needs of scientists, companies, publishers, and policymakers by providing user-friendly features. The implementation of FAIREHR is expected to yield significant benefits in terms of enabling more effective utilization of human biomonitoring (HBM) data.PARC project (grant no. 101057014) funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation program.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Chlorophenols in digested U.K. sewage sludges

This paper describes a method developed for the analysis of chlorophenols in liquid sewage sludges. After a comparison of different extraction procedures, wet sludge extraction with a solvent mixture of hexane and isopropyl alcohol was selected. Twelve sewage sludges from rural, urban and industrial sewage treatment works in north-west England were analysed by capillary GC-ECD, using a derivatization procedure. The total chlorophenol content ranged between 9.8 and 60.5 mg/kg (38.7-99.2 μg/l), with a mean of 34.6 mg/kg (70.4 μg/l). The most abundant chlorophenol was 2,4-dichlorophenol, which had a mean concentration of 26 ± 15.7 mg/kg (51.6 ± 19.6 μg/l); pentachlorophenol concentrations ranged between 0.1 and 2.04 mg/kg (0.21-3.76 μg/l). Chlorophenols with known sources and/or those which are known degradation products were found in the greatest abundance. The data are discussed in relation to literature reported figures and the inputs of chlorophenols to sludge amended agricultural soils is assessed