Phosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers (PFRs) are increasingly used in consumer goods, from which they can leach and pose potential threats to human health. Monitoring human exposure to these compounds is thus highly relevant. Current assessment of exposure through analysis of biological matrices is, however, tedious as well as logistically and financially demanding. Analysis of selected biomarkers of exposure to PFRs in wastewater could be a simple and complementary approach to monitoring, over space and time, exposure at the population level. An analytical procedure, based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, was developed and validated to monitor the occurrence in wastewater of human exposure biomarkers of 2-ethylhexyldiphenyl phosphate (EHDPHP), tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP), triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP). Various SPE sorbents and extraction protocols were evaluated, and for the optimized method, absolute extraction recoveries ranged between 46% and 100%. Accuracy and precision were satisfactory for the selected compounds. Method detection limits ranged from 1.6 to 19 ng L^–1. Biomarkers of exposure to PFRs were measured for the first time in influent wastewater. Concentrations in samples collected in Belgium ranged from below the limit of quantitation to 1072 ng L^–1, with 2-ethylhexyl phenyl phosphate (EHPHP) and TCEP being the most abundant. Per capita loads of target biomarkers varied greatly, suggesting potential differences in exposure between the investigated communities. The developed method allowed implementation of the concepts of human biomonitoring at the community scale, opening the possibility to assess population-wide exposure to PFRs.

中文翻译：

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液相色谱-串联质谱分析废水中磷阻燃剂的生物标志物，以监测社区范围内的暴露

磷阻燃剂和增塑剂（PFR）越来越多地用于消费品中，它们可以从其中浸出并对人类健康构成潜在威胁。因此，监测人类对这些化合物的接触非常重要。然而，通过对生物基质的分析，当前对暴露的评估既繁琐又在逻辑和财务上都十分繁琐。分析废水中PFR暴露的选定生物标志物可能是一种简单且补充性的方法，可以在空间和时间上监测人群水平的暴露。开发了一种基于固相萃取（SPE）和液相色谱-串联质谱联用的分析程序，并验证了该程序可监测废水中人类暴露的2-乙基己基二苯基磷酸酯（EHDPHP）生物标志物的发生，磷酸三（2-丁氧基乙基）酯（TBOEP），磷酸三苯酯（TPHP），磷酸三（2-氯异丙基）酯（TCIPP）和磷酸三（2-氯乙基）酯（TCEP）。评估了各种SPE吸附剂和提取方案，对于优化方法，绝对提取回收率在46％至100％之间。所选化合物的准确度和精密度令人满意。方法检测限为1.6到19 ng L^–1。首次测量了进水废水中暴露于PFR的生物标志物。在比利时收集的样品中，浓度范围从低于定量限到1072 ng L ^–1，其中2-乙基己基苯基磷酸酯（EHPHP）和TCEP含量最高。人均目标生物标志物的负荷差异很大，表明所研究社区之间的接触潜力存在潜在差异。所开发的方法允许在社区范围内实施人类生物监测的概念，从而为评估整个人群对PFR的暴露提供了可能性。