The main objective at the beginning of the thesis was the creation of analytical methods for the analysis of fast and exact form and with the greatest precision, as well as to achieve sufficiently low detection limits to be able to determine certain compounds and to be able to draw conclusions. For him, a list of endocrine disrupting analytes and related compounds (EDCs) from different families of compounds, but representative in relation to estrogenicity, was selected in acute matrices. Finally, it has been possible to study quite a few of the compounds that were intended a priori, achieving acceptable quality parameters. These methods could be applied in 2 sample campaigns of the main basins of the Iberian Peninsula, therefore being able to extract a lot of information. Water is an increasingly scarce and essential commodity for life, in recent decades society has begun to be aware of it, it seems that human activity has a great impact on the environment and in consequence also in the aquatic environment. . Environmental studies, therefore, are gaining more and more importance, being essential for the evaluation of the quality of this much-appreciated asset. Nowadays, and due in part to the increasing regulation of the different world agencies in terms of water quality, there are many studies, focused on the evaluation of different families of pollutants that can cause a certain impact on the aquatic environment. An example of it is the endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), a group of exogenous substances that interfere with the endocrine system and interrupt the physiological function of hormones. Some of these pollutants, with different structures and properties, are found in a wide variety of products commonly used in daily life and, consequently, are detected in the aquatic environment. The study of EDCs has been focused over the last decades from different angles, these pollutants have been studied for example as part of a main group of substances that are not only relevant for the endocrine effects of some of their compounds , but have other harmful characteristics, high levels of toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation, as is the case with pesticides, pharmaceutical products, halogenated chemical compounds, among others. This thesis has focused only on the evaluation of different groups of pollutants from the point of view of their greater or lesser degree of endocrine disruption, as well as other related compounds, these have been chosen according to criteria of degree of disruption and/or because of its high production or use, the latter being an important factor since pollutants with little disruptive potential, due to quantity or constant exposure, can become equally harmful. The analytical methodologies available in the literature for the analysis of EDCs in the aquatic environment are very varied, although most of these methods cover only one or two groups of compounds that contain similar polarities, similar structures or similar activities, whenever they exist more authors who propose multi-compound methods for the determination of a wide range of EDCs, although some of these, use different extraction methods and/or ways of elution, during the analysis, which is tedious and slow. Using direct injection technology through a preconcentration column or a purification followed by a liquid chromatographic separation coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (EKuan/TFC-LC-MS/MS), optimized in this thesis, solved a part. of the limitations previously exposed, creating automated online methods for the analysis of the different groups of EDCs in sharp matrices, sediments and sludges. These methodologies can be applied quickly and effectively for the determination of the level of EDC contamination. To carry out all this research, we have had the help of great experts in the field, from different universities and research centers internationals and nationals.
| Date of Award | 11 Jan 2023 |
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| Original language | Spanish |
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| Supervisor | Mira Petrovic (Director) & Damià Barceló Culleres (Director) |
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