Occurrence and Ecological Risk of Alkylamine Triazines in Chinese Estuarine Sediments: An Emerging Class of Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic Substances

Abstract

Identifying persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) substances from synthetic chemicals is critical for chemical management and ecological risk assessment. Inspired by the triazine analogues (e.g., atrazine and melamine) in the original European Union’s list of PMT substances, the occurrence and compositions of alkylamine triazines (AATs) in the estuarine sediments of main rivers along the eastern coast of China were comprehensively explored by an integrated strategy of target, suspect, and nontarget screening analysis. A total of 44 AATs were identified, of which 23 were confirmed by comparison with authentic standards. Among the remaining tentatively identified analogues, 18 were emerging pollutants not previously reported in the environment. Tri- and di-AATs were the dominant analogues, and varied geographic distributions of AATs were apparent in the investigated regions. Toxic unit calculations indicated that there were acute and chronic risks to algae from AATs on a large geographical scale, with the antifouling biocide cybutryne as a key driver. The assessment of physicochemical properties further revealed that more than half of the AATs could be categorized as potential PMT and very persistent and very mobile substances at the screening level. These results highlight that AATs are a class of PMT substances posing high ecological impacts on the aquatic environment and therefore require more attention.