Although imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) are beginning to be used more widely in many industrial fields e.g., as reaction media, electrolytes, stationary phases in gas chromatography), there is still little information about their potential environmental fate. Among the uncertainties regarding the risks associated with these compounds, bioconcentration is one of the key issues, about which many doubts have been raised in recent years. While in vitro data suggest that permanently charged compounds can also bioconcentrate, conclusive evidence in the form of studies on organisms, at least for selected compounds, is needed. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to determine whether imidazolium cations of ILs, namely 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium ([IM18]+) and 1-methyl-3-dodecylimidazolium ([IM1-12]+), can bioconcentrate in marine invertebrates tissues. During 21-day experiments, Mytilus trossulus mussels were exposed to these cations individually, at a concentration of 10 μg/L. In our study, it has been demonstrated for the first time during in vivo study, that long-chain imidazolium ionic liquids can bioconcentrate. The determined BCF value for [IM1-12]+ of 21,901 ± 3400 L/kg makes this compound to be considered highly bioaccumulative according to commonly accepted criteria. However, the obtained BCF for [IM18]+ (with the value below 100) suggests that this cation has little potential for bioconcentration. On the other hand, no salinity or anion influence on the bioconcentration of the tested cations was observed. Our tests also confirm that imidazolium ILs exhibit acute toxicity only at relatively high concentration levels, as LC50 reached 0.68 mg/L for [IM1-12][Br], and 11.66 mg/L for [IM18][C(CN)3]. This further confirms that the risks associated with the potential presence of these compounds in the environment should be attributed to their high persistence and potential bioconcentration, rather than acute toxicity.
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Abstract. The contribution of picocyanobacteria (PCY) to summer phytoplankton blooms, accompanied by an ecological crisis is a new phenomenon in Europe. This issue requires careful investigation. The present study examined the response of Synechococcus sp. physiology to different environmental conditions. Three strains of Synechococcus sp. (red BA-120, green BA-124, and brown BA-132) were cultivated in a laboratory under previously determined environmental conditions. These conditions were as follows: temperature (T) from 10 by 5 to 25 ∘C, salinity from 3 by 5 to 18 PSU, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) from 10 by 90 to 280 µmol photons m−2 s−1, which gave 64 combinations of synthetic, though realistic, environmental scenarios. Scenarios reflecting all possible combinations were applied in the laboratory experiments. Results pointed to differences in final numbers of cells among strains. However, there was also a similar tendency for BA-124 and BA-132, which demonstrated the highest concentrations of PCY cells at elevated T and PAR. This was also the case for BA-120 but only to a certain degree as the number of cells started to decrease above 190 µmol photons m−2 s−1 PAR. Pigmentation, chlorophyll a (Chl a), fluorescence, and rate of photosynthesis presented both similarities and differences among strains. In this context, more consistent features were observed between brown and red strains when compared to the green. In this paper, the ecophysiological responses of PCY are defined.
Imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) are chemical compounds beginning to be used on a mass scale. Although their presence in the environment is usually treated as only potential threat, there are already first evidences that this has become a real case. Taking into account their increasing use it might be expected that this problem will also increase in the nearest future. Given that some of the imidazolium cations exhibit high potential for bioconcentration, it is likely that they will accumulate in the tissues of wild organisms. Thus, there is no doubt that monitoring the presence of these compounds in organisms from potentially contaminated waters will be needed. Therefore, the aim of our study was to develop and fully validate a novel and reliable analytical procedure for the determination of the mixture of imidazolium ILs in Mytilus trossulus mussels. For this purpose, different extraction techniques were tested such as: microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), accelerated-solvent extraction (ASE) and bullet-blender homogenization (HOMO). Finally, the proposed procedure is based on the application of MAE technique for the extraction of imidazolium cations and SPE technique using Oasis HLB cartridges for the purification of the obtained extracts and LC-MS/MS technique with QqQ analyzer for their final determination. The developed procedure is characterized with low limits of quantification, at 50-150 ng/g dry tissue and allows for reliable determination of trace amounts of the tested compounds in complex biological matrix. As a result, this is the first study presenting the analytical procedure for the analysis of imidazolium ILs in aquatic animal tissues.
Although the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment is an issue widely addressed in research over the past two decades, still little is known about their transformation products. However, there are indications that some of these chemicals may be equally or even more harmful than parent compounds. Diclofenac (DCF) is among the most commonly detected pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment, but the potential effects of its metabolites on organisms are poorly understood. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate and compare the toxicity of DCF and its metabolite, 4-hydroxy diclofenac (4-OH DCF), in mussels using a multi-biomarker approach. Mytilus trossulus mussels were exposed to DCF and 4-OH DCF at 68.22 and 20.85 μg/L (measured concentrations at day 0), respectively, for 7 days. In our work, we showed that both tested compounds have no effect on most of the enzymatic biomarkers tested. However, it has been shown that their action can affect the protein content in gills and also be reflected through histological markers.
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