Identification of Chain Scission Products Released to Water by Plastic Exposed to Ultraviolet Light

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00119
• Publication Date: 2018-04-04T14:01:06Z
• Authors: Berit Gewert; Merle Plassmann; Oskar Sandblom; Matthew MacLeod
• Keywords: Polypropylene; Ultraviolet light; Polystyrene; Degradation; Ultraviolet; Dichloromethane; Polymer degradation

Buoyant plastic in the marine environment is exposed to sunlight, oxidants, and physical stress, which may lead degradation of polymer release compounds that are potentially hazardous. We report development a laboratory protocol simulates exposure floating ultraviolet light (UV) nontarget analysis identify products polymers water. Plastic pellets [polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, poly(ethylene terephthalate)] suspended water were UV source for 5 days. Organic chemicals concentrated by solid phase extraction then analyzed ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled high-resolution mass spectrometry using approach with C18 LC column Q Exactive Orbitrap HF spectrometer. designed data scheme likely chain scission from polymers. For all four polymers, we found homologous series low-molecular weight fragments oxidized end groups. In total, tentatively identified 22 products, mainly dicarboxylic acids.