Calibration of nylon organic chemical integrative samplers and sentinel samplers for quantitative measurement of pulsed aquatic exposures

Abstract

Environmental exposures often occur through short, pulsed events; therefore, the ability to accurately measure these toxicologically-relevant concentrations is important. Three different integrative passive sampler configurations were evaluated under different flow and pulsed exposure conditions for the measurement of current-use pesticides (n=19), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (n=10), and personal care products (n=5) spanning a broad range of hydrophobicities (log Kow 1.5–7.6). Two modified POCIS-style samplers were investigated using macroporous nylon mesh membranes (35μm pores) and two different sorbent materials (i.e. Oasis HLB and Dowex Optipore L-493). A recently developed design, the Sentinel Sampler (ABS Materials), utilizing Osorb media enclosed within stainless steel mesh (145μm pores), was also investigated. Relatively high sampling rates (Rs) were achieved for all sampler configurations during the short eight-day exposure (4300–27mL/d). Under flow conditions, median Rs were approximately 5–10 times higher for POCIS-style samplers and 27 times higher for Sentinel Samplers, as compared to static conditions. The ability of samplers to rapidly measure hydrophobic contaminants may be a trade off with increased flow dependence. Analyte accumulation was integrative under pulsed and continuous exposures for POCIS-style samplers with mean difference between treatments of 11% and 33%; however, accumulation into Sentinel Samplers was more variable. Collectively, results show that reducing membrane limitations allows for rapid, integrative accumulation of a broad range of analytes even under pulsed exposures. As such, these sampler designs may be suitable for monitoring environmental substances that have short aquatic half-lives.