Photodegradation of 17α-ethynylestradiol in nitrate aqueous solutions

Abstract

17α-Ethynylestradiol (Ee₂) has gotten growing concerns due to its widely detected in the environment and high estrogenic potency. However, the knowledge on the photochemical behaviors of Ee₂ in natural waters is still limited. Herein, the photodegradation and estrogenic potency variation of Ee₂ induced by nitrate were studied using a sunlight simulator consisted by a 300 W medium pressure mercury lamp and 290 nm cut-off filters. It was found that Ee₂ could be photodegraded at a rate of 0.0193 h-1 in pure aqueous solutions, and the photodegradation of Ee₂ could be significantly promoted by nitrate. The photodegradation removal rate of Ee₂ was increased from 9% in Milli-Q water to 85% in 2.0 mM nitrate solutions. Reactive species scavenging experiments demonstrated that the photogenerated HO? contributed about 55% to Ee₂ degradation. Fe(III), Cl- and dissolved humic acid (DHA) could inhibit the photodegradation of Ee₂ by competing the incident light and photogenerated HO?, while HCO₃ - had no influence on Ee₂ photodegradation. Ee₂ was determined to be phototransformed into organic chemicals without estrogenic potency by GC-MS and MCF-7 cell proliferation toxicity tests. These findings could extend our knowledge on the photochemical behaviors of steroid estrogens and provide information for ecological risk assessment.