Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizers

Chemical safety assessment requires the inclusion of information on potential transformation products. Such information is often lacking for chemicals considered as alternatives making a comprehensive safety assessment for chemical substitution challenging. To address this challenge a methodological...

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Main Authors: Ioannis Liagkouridis, Georgios Giovanoulis, Gunnar Thorsén
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2025-03-01
Series:Emerging Contaminants
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405665024001318
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author Ioannis Liagkouridis
Georgios Giovanoulis
Gunnar Thorsén
author_facet Ioannis Liagkouridis
Georgios Giovanoulis
Gunnar Thorsén
author_sort Ioannis Liagkouridis
collection DOAJ
description Chemical safety assessment requires the inclusion of information on potential transformation products. Such information is often lacking for chemicals considered as alternatives making a comprehensive safety assessment for chemical substitution challenging. To address this challenge a methodological framework for investigating the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals is presented. The developed methodology involves the combined use of in silico tools, biodegradation testing and suspect screening analysis for the prediction and identification of environmental transformation pathways and products. The proposed framework was applied on three emerging alternative plasticizers to phthalate esters (i.e., DINCH, DEHA and ATBC) under which major first-, second- and third-step transformation products predicted in silico were also successfully identified experimentally. This allowed for a preliminary evaluation of the performance of in silico tools in terms of the predicted transformation pathways and their likelihood of occurrence. At the same time the fast chemical degradation method showed good potential in identifying the key transformation products. The proposed framework can be used to support safety assessments for chemical substitution. Further application of the developed methodology on different chemical groups along with proper optimization of the individual method components is recommended to showcase its efficacy over a larger application area.
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id doaj-art-a303ce13789b4f859966ff366127a8a3
institution OA Journals
issn 2405-6650
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
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spelling doaj-art-a303ce13789b4f859966ff366127a8a32025-08-20T02:27:47ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Emerging Contaminants2405-66502025-03-0111110043010.1016/j.emcon.2024.100430Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizersIoannis Liagkouridis0Georgios Giovanoulis1Gunnar Thorsén2Corresponding author.; IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, 114 28, Stockholm, SwedenIVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, 114 28, Stockholm, SwedenIVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, 114 28, Stockholm, SwedenChemical safety assessment requires the inclusion of information on potential transformation products. Such information is often lacking for chemicals considered as alternatives making a comprehensive safety assessment for chemical substitution challenging. To address this challenge a methodological framework for investigating the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals is presented. The developed methodology involves the combined use of in silico tools, biodegradation testing and suspect screening analysis for the prediction and identification of environmental transformation pathways and products. The proposed framework was applied on three emerging alternative plasticizers to phthalate esters (i.e., DINCH, DEHA and ATBC) under which major first-, second- and third-step transformation products predicted in silico were also successfully identified experimentally. This allowed for a preliminary evaluation of the performance of in silico tools in terms of the predicted transformation pathways and their likelihood of occurrence. At the same time the fast chemical degradation method showed good potential in identifying the key transformation products. The proposed framework can be used to support safety assessments for chemical substitution. Further application of the developed methodology on different chemical groups along with proper optimization of the individual method components is recommended to showcase its efficacy over a larger application area.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405665024001318
spellingShingle Ioannis Liagkouridis
Georgios Giovanoulis
Gunnar Thorsén
Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizers
Emerging Contaminants
title Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizers
title_full Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizers
title_fullStr Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizers
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizers
title_short Assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools, (bio)degradation testing and suspect screening – A case study of emerging alternative plasticizers
title_sort assessing the environmental transformation of alternative chemicals using in silico tools bio degradation testing and suspect screening a case study of emerging alternative plasticizers
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405665024001318
work_keys_str_mv AT ioannisliagkouridis assessingtheenvironmentaltransformationofalternativechemicalsusinginsilicotoolsbiodegradationtestingandsuspectscreeningacasestudyofemergingalternativeplasticizers
AT georgiosgiovanoulis assessingtheenvironmentaltransformationofalternativechemicalsusinginsilicotoolsbiodegradationtestingandsuspectscreeningacasestudyofemergingalternativeplasticizers
AT gunnarthorsen assessingtheenvironmentaltransformationofalternativechemicalsusinginsilicotoolsbiodegradationtestingandsuspectscreeningacasestudyofemergingalternativeplasticizers