Airborne phthalate partitioning to cotton clothing

Abstract

Accumulation on indoor surfaces and fabrics can increase dermal uptake and non-dietary ingestion of semi-volatile organic compounds. To better understand the potential for dermal uptake of phthalates from clothing, we measured the mass accumulation on cotton fabrics of two phthalate esters commonly identified in indoor air: diethylphthalate (DEP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP). In 10-day chamber experiments, we observed strong air-to-cloth partitioning of these phthalates to shirts and jean material. Area-normalized partition coefficients ranged from 209 to 411 (μg/m2)/(μg/m3) for DEP and 2850 to 6580 (μg/m2)/(μg/m3) for DnBP. Clothing volume-normalized partition coefficients averaged 2.6 × 105 (μg/m3)/(μg/m3) for DEP and 3.9 × 106 (μg/m3)/(μg/m3) for DnBP. At equilibrium, we estimate that a typical set of cotton clothing can sorb DnBP from the equivalent of >10,000 m3 of indoor air, thereby substantially decreasing external mass-transfer barriers to dermal uptake. Further, we estimate that a significant fraction of a child's body burden of DnBP may come from mouthing fabric material that has been equilibrated with indoor air.