New analytical strategies to determine chemicals of emerging concern present in environmental, food and biological samples

• Grant number: 22/02991-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Initial Project
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: January 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Clairmont Feitosa de Lima Gomes
• Grantee: Paulo Clairmont Feitosa de Lima Gomes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Arnaldo Sarti ; Josias de Oliveira Merib ; Lorena Oliveira Pires ; Mario Henrique Gonzalez
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/02884-8 - Suspect screening and non-target strategies to evaluate the occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in environmental and food samples, BP.DR

Abstract

Approximately 2000 new chemicals products are registered and commercialized on a daily basis. However, there are concerns related to the safety and exposure to these products to human health and the environment. To understand the impact of these chemical compounds in the environment and biological systems, the first step is to develop effective methods for their detection and characterization. Therefore, new analytical methods are critical to support the effort of regulatory agencies to identify and quantify the occurrence of emerging compounds in environmental, food and biological samples. There is a public health concern that many of these substances and their metabolites remain in these samples, increasing their potential to impact physiological pathways and cause disease. The advance of bioinformatics, data acquisition and processing allows new analysis concepts: target analysis (target compounds selected to be quantified), suspect screening (known the possible compounds in the sample but lacking method to quantify) and non-target screening (detection of new compounds or markers). The target method is essential to quantify emerging chemical compounds of concern and requires sample preparation procedures that should be in accordance to green chemistry concepts and use designed solvents to extract the analytes based on their physicochemical properties. The MRM-Profiling is a simple and fast tool that can be used for suspect screening of emerging chemicals. Thus, this project aims to develop two innovative analytical tools to quantify emerging chemicals in complex samples: 1)MRM-Profiling methods for initial suspect screening of the chemical compounds of concern present in environmental, food and biological samples; and 2) target methods to determine the compounds in the selected samples that uses green chemistry sample preparation procedures incluiding magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) and natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES). The samples will consist of sewage, sludge, seafood, vinegar, soft drinks, cachaça, beer, and urine. The MRM-Profiling will use a direct infusion of small sample volume or sample pool. The experiment presents three steps, the first discovery stage which interrogates the sample using precursor ion and neutral loss scans in MRM experiments using different collision energies regarding the functional chemical groups. Then, the MRM with signal superior to the blank and system artifacts are selected. The second phase, the screening phase applies the selected MRMs to process each sample individually. The last phase is the confirmatory step that uses the product ion scan, or if necessary, targe method using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry or high-resolution mass spectrometry to further confirm the chemical compounds. All samples will be analyzed through MRM-Profiling, further, the emerging chemical of concern will be confirmed using target methods to determine pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, plasticizers, flame retardants, and elementary compounds (As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Se, and V). At the end of this project, as result of these two innovative analytical approaches, it is expected not only to determine the major chemicals compounds present in the analyzed samples but also to quantify the levels of these compounds using simple, fast methods as well as using methods susceptible to be automate in order to reduce the environment impact. These results will assist regulatory agencies to better understand the presence and impact of these chemicals in human health and the environment. (AU)

Scientific publications

(6)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LAMARCA, RAFAELA SILVA; SILVA, JOAO PEDRO; DOS SANTOS, JOAO PAULO VARONI; AYALA-DURAN, SAIDY CRISTINA; GOMES, PAULO CLAIRMONT FEITOSA DE LIMA. Modular 3D-printed fluorometer/photometer for determination of iron(ii), caffeine, and ciprofloxacin in pharmaceutical samples. RSC ADVANCES, v. 13, n. 18, p. 9-pg., 2023-04-17. (21/14581-1, 22/02991-3, 14/50945-4, 18/22393-8)

RODRIGUES, THAIS; FERREIRA, KAREN CHIBANA; ISQUIBOLA, GUILHERME; FRANCO, DOUGLAS FAZA; ANDERSON, JARED L.; MERIB, JOSIAS DE OLIVEIRA; GOMES, PAULO CLAIRMONT FEITOSA DE LIMA. Investigating a new approach for magnetic ionic liquids: Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled to pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine flame retardants in sewage sludge samples. Journal of Chromatography A, v. 1730, p. 9-pg., 2024-06-20. (23/04832-2, 14/50945-4, 22/02991-3)

FERREIRA, CHRISTINA R.; GOMES, PAULO CLAIRMONT F. DE LIMA; ROBISON, KILEY MARIE; COOPER, BRUCE R.; SHANNAHAN, JONATHAN H.. Implementation of multiomic mass spectrometry approaches for the evaluation of human health following environmental exposure. MOLECULAR OMICS, v. 20, n. 5, p. 26-pg., 2024-03-26. (14/50945-4, 22/02991-3)

FERREIRA, KAREN CHIBANA; RODRIGUES, THAIS; ISQUIBOLA, GUILHERME; AYALA-DURAN, SAIDY CRISTINA; MERIB, JOSIAS DE OLIVEIRA; GONZALEZ, MARIO H.; ANDERSON, JARED L.; GOMES, PAULO CLAIRMONT F. DE LIMA. Determination of parabens and bisphenol A in sludge samples using hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and sample introduction via pyrolizer. Microchemical Journal, v. 207, p. 10-pg., 2024-12-01. (14/50945-4, 22/02991-3)

MARTINS, GIOVANA SILVA; RODRIGUES, THAIS; LAMARCA, RAFAELA SILVA; AYALA-DURAN, SAIDY CRISTINA; DA SILVA, BIANCA FERREIRA; GOMES, PAULO CLAIRMONT FEITOSA DE LIMA. Continuous removal of caffeine in a horizontal-flow anaerobic immobilized biomass bioreactor: identification of transformation products. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2023-09-23. (22/02991-3, 14/50945-4, 18/22393-8)

ROJAS-MANTILLA, HERNAN DARIO; IRIKURA, KALLYNI; DE SOUZA, JOAO CARLOS; AYALA-DURAN, SAIDY CRISTINA; GOMES, PAULO CLAIRMONT FEITOSA DE LIMA; SALAZAR-GONZALEZ, RICARDO; ZANONI, MARIA VALNICE BOLDRIN. Degradation of sertraline using a continuous-flow filtration/photocatalysis system based on carbon fiber (PWB-3) modified with WO₃ under LED chip irradiation. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, v. 477, p. 15-pg., 2023-11-01. (17/12790-7, 14/50945-4, 22/02991-3, 15/12998-1, 21/12866-9, 19/13113-4)