High Speed Liquid Chromatography as an Environmental Monitor of Non-Volatile Organic Pollutants in Water: In Retrospect--A New Perspective

摘要

Drinking water quality in Columbia, Missouri, and its vicinity was studied, with emphasis on non-volatile organic pollutants and their fate. Both qualitative and quantitative relationships of the non-volatile organic compounds, total organic carbon and chlorination were studied. In general, organics having an acetyl moiety, ethanol, or beta-hydroxyethyl alkyls, are thought to be sources of haloforms. Since similar organic structures are distributed in the human body, study was directed towards chlorination in vivo and in vitro, which has led to a new perspective in human health safety. Results showed that in vivo chlorination of rats with an acute dose of sodium hypochlorite (SH) formed the chlorinated hydrocarbon chloroform, a known carcinogen. Chloroform levels in blood, brain, liver, kidney and fat were elevated, and increased with increasing SH dosage. In vivo chloroform levels were maximum at 1.5 hours, and almost completely eliminated 24 hours after SH administration. Chloroform production from in vitro addition of SH to rat blood, brain, liver, kidney and fat was related to SH dosage, and reaction time and temperature. Overall results suggested reactions in other physiological systems similar to that observed with SH may occur on intake of heavily chlorinated water.