Prevalence, Biotransformation, and Maternal Transfer of Synthetic Phenolic Antioxidants in Pregnant Women from South China

作者：Bibai Du, Yun Zhang, James C.W. Lam, Shilei Pan, Yuxin Huang, Baowei Chen, Shenyu Lan, Juan Li, Dan Luo, Lixi Zeng · 发表于：Environmental Science & Technology · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1021/acs.est.9b04709 · 被引用次数：97 · 研究领域：Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals、Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact

Synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) have been identified as an emerging group of contaminants in recent years. However, there are significant gaps in our knowledge of human prenatal exposure to these synthetic chemicals. In this study, a set of eight SPAs and four major transformation products (TPs) were systematically analyzed in matched samples of maternal plasma, cord plasma, and placenta from a population of pregnant women. Five of the eight target SPAs and all four target TPs were frequently detected in the maternal–placental–fetal unit, indicating prenatal exposure to SPAs and the transfer of SPAs across the placenta. In the three matrices, 2,6-di- tert -butyl-hydroxytoluene (BHT), 2,4-di- tert -butylphenol (DBP), and 2,2′-methylenebis(4-methyl-6- tert -butylphenol) (AO 2246) were identified as the most abundant SPAs, while 2,6-di- tert -butyl-1,4-benzoquinone (BHT-Q) and 2,6-di- tert -butyl-4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2,5-cyclohexadienone (BHT-quinol) were identified as the predominant TPs of BHT. In the maternal plasma, concentrations of both BHT-Q and BHT-quinol were significantly correlated with BHT ( p < 0.001), suggesting that the two TPs mainly originated from the biotransformation of BHT itself in pregnant women. The transplacental transfer efficiencies (TTEs) of the SPAs and TPs were structure-dependent and generally less than 1. Significantly higher TTEs for four target TPs than their parent BHT were identified. To our knowledge, this study provides the first eviden...