Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are known point sources of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) to the aquatic environment, but current knowledge is mostly limited to well-known chemical structures. In this study, we sought to identify unknown CECs polluting the aquatic environment through a novel suspect screening approach for organohalogens, i.e. organic halogenated molecules often toxic and resistant to transformation and characterised as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Surface water samples were collected with passive samplers in the Fyris River catchment (Uppsala, Sweden), analysed using liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and screened for organohalogens using a suspect screening approach based on market data obtained from a regulatory authority. Thirteen suspects from very different application areas were confirmed or tentatively identified with high confidence, including seven previously unknown structures (diflufenican, chlorzoxazone, 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea, 2,4-disulfamyl-5-trifluoromethylaniline, 5-amino-2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonic acid, perfluoropentane-1-sufonic acid, (2-chlorophenyl)(hydroxy)methanesulfonic acid). Spatiotemporal occurrence patterns were detected, which helped to understand the usage pattern of the chemicals and pinpoint potential pollution sources, e.g. specific WWTPs in the catchment. Several of the newly identified structures had virtually no information publicly available and were detected years after their last registered use, which highlights the knowledge gaps and concerns about POPs.

废水处理厂（WWTP）是已知的水生环境污染物的直接来源（CEC），但是当前的知识大多限于已知的化学结构。在这项研究中，我们试图通过一种新颖的可疑有机卤素筛查方法来鉴定污染水生环境的未知CEC，即有机卤代分子通常有毒且耐转化，并具有持久性有机污染物（POPs）的特征。在费里斯河流域（瑞典乌普萨拉）使用被动采样器收集地表水样品，使用液相色谱高分辨率质谱法（LC-HRMS）进行分析，并根据从监管机构获得的市场数据，使用可疑的筛查方法对有机卤素进行筛查。权威。高度确定地确认或初步确定了来自非常不同应用领域的13名犯罪嫌疑人，包括七个以前未知的结构（双氟芬尼，氯唑沙宗，3-（3,4-二氯苯基）-1,1-二甲基脲，2,4-二硫戊基-5-三氟甲基苯胺，5-氨基-2-氯甲苯-4-磺酸，全氟戊烷-1-磺酸，（2-氯苯基）（羟基）甲磺酸。发现时空发生模式，有助于了解化学品的使用模式并查明潜在的污染源，例如流域中的特定污水处理厂。一些新确定的结构实际上没有公开的信息，并且在其最后一次注册使用后数年才被发现，这突显了知识差距和对持久性有机污染物的关注。