Double-gate structure enabling remote Coulomb scattering-free transport in atomic-layer-deposited IGO thin-film transistors with HfO2 gate dielectric through insertion of SiO2 interlayer.

In this paper, high-performance indium gallium oxide (IGO) thin-film transistor (TFT) with a double-gate (DG) structure was developed using an atomic layer deposition route. The device consisting of 10-nm-thick IGO channel and 2/48-nm-thick SiO2/HfO2 dielectric was designed to be suitable for a display backplane in augmented and virtual reality applications. The fabricated DG TFTs exhibit outstanding device performances with field-effect mobility (µFE) of 65.1 ± 2.3 cm2V-1 s-1, subthreshold swing of 65 ± 1 mVdec-1, and threshold voltage (VTH) of 0.42 ± 0.05 V. Both the (µFE) and SS are considerably improved by more than two-fold in the DG IGO TFTs compared to single-gate (SG) IGO TFTs. Important finding was that the DG mode of IGO TFTs exhibits the nearly temperature independent µFE variations in contrast to the SG mode which suffers from the severe remote Coulomb scattering. The rationale for this disparity is discussed in detail based on the potential distribution along the vertical direction using technology computer-aided design simulation. Furthermore, the DG IGO TFTs exhibit a greatly improved reliability with negligible VTH shift of - 0.22 V under a harsh negative bias thermal and illumination stress condition with an electric field of - 2 MVcm-1 and blue light illumination at 80 °C for 3600 s. It could be attributed to the increased electrostatic potential that results in fast re-trapping of the electrons generated by the light-induced ionization of deep level oxygen vacancy defects.

Workflow to facilitate the detection of new psychoactive substances and drugs of abuse in influent urban wastewater.

The complexity around the dynamic markets for new psychoactive substances (NPS) forces researchers to develop and apply innovative analytical strategies to detect and identify them in influent urban wastewater. In this work a comprehensive suspect screening workflow following liquid chromatography - high resolution mass spectrometry analysis was established utilising the open-source InSpectra data processing platform and the HighResNPS library. In total, 278 urban influent wastewater samples from 47 sites in 16 countries were collected to investigate the presence of NPS and other drugs of abuse. A total of 50 compounds were detected in samples from at least one site. Most compounds found were prescription drugs such as gabapentin (detection frequency 79%), codeine (40%) and pregabalin (15%). However, cocaine was the most found illicit drug (83%), in all countries where samples were collected apart from the Republic of Korea and China. Eight NPS were also identified with this protocol: 3-methylmethcathinone 11%), eutylone (6%), etizolam (2%), 3-chloromethcathinone (4%), mitragynine (6%), phenibut (2%), 25I-NBOH (2%) and trimethoxyamphetamine (2%). The latter three have not previously been reported in municipal wastewater samples. The workflow employed allowed the prioritisation of features to be further investigated, reducing processing time and gaining in confidence in their identification.

Comparative study on Perfluoro(2-methyl-3-oxahexanoic) acid removal by quaternary ammonium functionalized silica gel and granular activated carbon from batch and column experiments and molecular simulation-based interpretation.

Removing perfluoro(2-methyl-3-oxahexanoic) acid (HFPO-DA) in water treatment is hindered by its hydrophobicity and negative charge. Two adsorbents, quaternary-ammonium-functionalized silica gel (Qgel), specifically designed for anionic hydrophobic compounds, and conventional granular activated carbon (GAC) were investigated for HFPO-DA removal. ANOVA results (p â‰ª 0.001) revealed significant effects on initial concentration, contact time, and adsorbent type. Langmuir model-derived capacities were 285.019 and 144.461 mg/g for Qgel and GAC, respectively, with Qgel exhibiting higher capacity irrespective of pH. In column experiments, selective removal of HFPO-DA removal with Qgel was observed; specifically, in the presence of NaCl, the breakthrough time was extended by 10 h from 26 to 36 h. Meanwhile, the addition of NaCl decreased the breakthrough time from 32 to 14 h for GAC. However, in the presence of carbamazepine, neither of the adsorbents significantly changed the breakthrough time for HFPO-DA. Molecular simulations were also used to compare the adsorption energies and determine the preferential interactions of HFPO-DA and salts or other chemicals with Qgel and GAC. Molecular simulations compared adsorption energies, revealing preferential interactions with Qgel and GAC. Notably, HFPO-DA adsorption energy on GAC surpassed other ions during coexistence. Specifically, with Cl- concentrations from 1 to 10 times, Qgel showed lower adsorption energy for HFPO-DA (-62.50 ± 5.44 eV) than Cl- (-52.89 ± 2.59 eV), a significant difference (p = 0.036). Conversely, GAC exhibited comparable or higher adsorption energy for HFPO-DA (-18.33 ± 40.38 eV) than Cl- (-32.36 ± 29.89 eV), with no significant difference (p = 0.175). This suggests heightened selectivity of Qgel for HFPO-DA removal compared to GAC. Consequently, our study positions Qgel as a promising alternative for effective HFPO-DA removal, contributing uniquely to the field. Additionally, our exploration of molecular simulations in predicting micropollutant removal adds novelty to our study.

Assessment of PAH exposure and health risks among South Korean firefighters based on urinary PAH metabolites.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) comprise a group of compounds resulting from the incomplete combustion of organic matter. Firefighters engaged in fire suppression are highly exposed to PAHs. This study centered on evaluating the exposure levels and health risks of PAHs in South Korean firefighters involved in firefighting activities. The concentrations of 10 PAH metabolites in the urine of firefighters were measured immediately after, and two weeks post their engagement in extinguishing a large tire factory fire. The levels of OH-PAHs in urine samples immediately after fire suppression were elevated by a factor of 1.01-1.84 compared to urine samples from non-exposed period. The median concentration of total PAH metabolites (OH-PAHs) was higher in urine samples immediately after fire suppression (5910 ng/g creatinine) than in urine samples from non-exposed periods (5020 ng/g creatinine). However, the ∑OH-PAH levels in firefighters' urine were related to personal habits such as smoking. The concentrations of all individual OH-PAHs in the urine samples of nonsmokers exhibited a substantial increase, ranging from 1.37 to 2.3 times, clearly demonstrating that firefighting activities were a substantial source of PAH exposure. The calculated values associated with the health risks stemming from exposure to PAHs, including carcinogenic risk, total estimated daily intake (TEDI), and hazard quotients/index (HQs/HI), all fell within acceptable limits, indicating negligible risk. However, the HQ/HI values and TEDI for individual and total PAH exposures, except those for naphthalene, were 1.36-2.00 times higher in firefighters' samples taken after firefighting operations compared to those during regular duty. This underscores the need for more comprehensive investigations to comprehend the singular impact of firefighting activities due to the diverse sources of PAH emissions in the environment.

Assessment of environmental forensic indicator for anthropogenic groundwater contamination via target/suspect/nontarget analysis using HRMS techniques.

This study compared target/suspect/nontarget analysis via liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) with traditional environmental forensic methods, specifically nitrate and its stable N isotope, in assessing groundwater pollution from livestock manure and agriculture. Using an in-house database of 1471 target and suspects, 35 contaminants (pesticides, veterinary drugs, surfactants) were identified, some uniquely linked to specific pollution sources, such as sulfamethazine and 4-formylaminoantipyrine in manure-affected areas. Pesticides were widespread, typically showing higher intensity in agricultural zones. On the other hand, the results of stable N isotope analysis (δ15N-NO3: 4.8 to 16.4‰) indicated the influence of human activities such as fertilizers, sewage, and manure in all sampling sites, including the control site far from the pollution sources and cannot differentiate the specific sources. The study underscores LC-HRMS's efficacy in different pollution sources, surpassing the limitations of stable N isotope analysis, and provides valuable insights for polluted groundwater source tracking strategies.

Distribution and ecological risk assessment of priority water pollutants in surface river sediments with emphasis on industrially affected areas.

Priority water pollutants comprising six plasticizers, 18 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), 1,4-dioxane, epichlorohydrin, formaldehyde, acrylamide, and cyanides were determined in surface river sediments to assess their distribution patterns and ecological risks. Among these, di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), toluene, TPH, and acrylamide were frequently found in sediments. The industrial sites had higher concentrations of ∑plasticizers (median 628 ng/g dry weight (dw)), ∑VOCs (median 3.35 ng/g dw), acrylamide (median 0.966 ng/g dw), and TPH (median 152 µg/g dw) in sediments than the mixed and non-industrial areas. The other pollutants did not show the significant differences in levels according to site types because of their relatively low detection frequencies. Volatile and soluble substances as well as hydrophobic pollutants were predominantly detected in surface sediments from industrial areas. Sediment contamination patterns were affected by the size and composition of the industrial zones around the sampling sites. The ecological risks determined using the sediment quality guidelines (DEHP, VOCs, and TPH) and the mean probable effect level quotients (DEHP) were mostly acceptable. However, the two most representative industrial regions (the largest industrial area and the first industrial city) showed risks of concern for DEHP and TPH.

Identification of organic chemical indicators for tracking pollution sources in groundwater by machine learning from GC-HRMS-based suspect and non-target screening data.

In this study, the strong analytical power of gas chromatography coupled to a high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) in suspect and non-target screening (SNTS) of organic micropollutants was combined with machine learning tools for proposing a novel and robust systematic environmental forensics workflow, focusing on groundwater contamination. Groundwater samples were collected from four different regions with diverse contamination histories (namely oil [OC], agricultural [AGR], industrial [IND], and landfill [LF]), and a total of 252 organic micropollutants were identified, including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, plasticizers, phenols, organophosphate flame retardants, transformation products, and others, with detection frequencies ranging from 3 % to 100 %. Amongst the SNTS identified compounds, a total of 51 chemical indicators (i.e., OC: 13, LF: 12, AGR: 19, IND: 7) which included level 1 and 2 SNTS identified chemicals were pinpointed across all sampling regions by integrating a bootstrapped feature selection method involving the bootfs algorithm and a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model to determine potential prevalent contamination sources. The proposed workflow showed good predictive ability (Q2) of 0.897, and the suggested contamination sources were gasoline, diesel, and/or other light petroleum products for the OC region, anthropogenic activities for the LF region, agricultural and human activities for the AGR region, and industrial/human activities for the IND region. These results suggest that the proposed workflow can select a subset of the most diagnostic features in the chemical space that can best distinguish a specific contamination source class.

Tracking methamphetamine and amphetamine consumption patterns in South Korea via enantiomeric analysis of wastewater.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as an effective method for monitoring a community's health status and lifestyle. In recent years, enantiomeric profiling has shown promise as a tool for tracing the sources of abused drugs through WBE. This study investigated amphetamine (AMP) and methamphetamine (METH) consumption in South Korea using enantiomeric analysis of untreated wastewater samples collected from 27 wastewater-treatment plants (WWTPs). Both AMP and METH were detected, with the predominant detection of S-(+)-METH indicating widespread illegal use of METH, which is primarily produced by a clandestine synthesis procedure that involves the reduction of ephedrine/pseudoephedrine. Most AMP/METH ratios in the samples were consistent with the expected METH excretion profile, indicating that the presence of AMP was primarily due to METH metabolism. However, R-(-) AMP was detected in 18.5 % and 25.9 % of wastewater samples in winter and spring, respectively, and the high AMP/METH ratio (>0.27) indicated potential AMP abuse. By differentiating between the sources of AMP and METH in wastewater, enantiomeric analysis could help authorities to target and address specific drug-abuse issues affecting the population more effectively.

Phenolic compounds in the freshwater environment in South Korea: Occurrence and tissue-specific distribution.

In this study, we investigated the occurrence and distribution of phenolic compounds, including phenol, cresols, chlorophenols, nitrophenol, and bromophenols, in freshwater environments. We also focused on phenolic compounds in crucian carp (Carassius auratus) tissues, specifically the muscle, gills, brain, blood, liver, and gonads, to assess their potential bioaccumulation in fish and human health risks. Phenolic compounds were found to be widespread in various freshwater environments throughout South Korea. Phenol was predominant in all matrices, with median concentrations of 57.0 ng/L in freshwater, 54.3 ng/g dry weight (dw) in sediment, and ranging from 71 ng/g wet weight (ww) to 621 ng/g ww in crucian carp tissues. Cresols were the second most dominant compound, with m-cresol exhibiting the highest prevalence. Most of the compounds detected in crucian carp samples were also detected in freshwater and sediment, whereas pentachlorophenol and 2,4,6-tribromophenol were exclusively detected in crucian carp tissues. A high bioaccumulation potential in the liver was observed for most phenolic compounds [median log bioconcentration factor (BCF): 3.2-3.7]. Interestingly, only m-cresol showed high bioaccumulation potential in the gills (median log BCF: 3.1). The estimated daily intake of phenolic compounds suggested that it does not pose an immediate concern for human exposure owing to crucian carp consumption. These findings enhance our understanding of the exposure status, distribution, and bioaccumulation potency of phenolic compounds in aquatic ecosystems and emphasize the importance of ongoing monitoring and risk assessment efforts.

Polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides in surface sediments from river networks, South Korea: Spatial distribution, source identification, and ecological risks.

In this study, the nationwide monitoring of 65 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 23 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in surface sediments was conducted at 77 sites in river networks in South Korea. The concentrations of ∑PCBs were relatively high in industrial sites (0.0297-138 ng/g dry weight (dw); mean 15.1 ng/g dw; median 5.44 ng/g dw), followed by industrial and agricultural (not detected (ND)-15.2 ng/g dw; mean 1.23 ng/g dw; median 0.513 ng/g dw), other sites (0.0369-0.209 ng/g dw; mean 0.116 ng/g dw; median 0.101 ng/g dw), and agricultural (0.0119-0.359 ng/g dw; mean 0.117 ng/g dw; median 0.0476 ng/g dw). The distribution and composition of PCBs in sediments are affected by past use of commercial products, atmospheric deposition, wastewater effluents, and manufacturing processes. The concentrations of ∑OCPs in industrial sites ranged from 0.0587 to 8.70 ng/g dw (mean 1.85 ng/g dw; median 0.989 ng/g dw), followed by industrial and agricultural (ND-8.54 ng/g dw; mean 0.739 ng/g dw; median 0.343 ng/g dw), other sites (0.0247-0.143 ng/g dw; mean 0.0939 ng/g dw; median 0.114 ng/g dw), and agricultural (0.00838-0.931 ng/g dw; mean 0.232 ng/g dw; median 0.0752 ng/g dw). Hexachlorobenzene and pentachlorobenzene are unintentionally generated in industries and combustion processes. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes and chlordane were dominantly distributed by historical use, whereas recent inputs (i.e., long-range transport and atmospheric deposition) were related to aldrin, heptachlor, and hexachlorocyclohexanes. The ecological risks determined by the sediment quality guidelines and mean probable effect level quotients were acceptable, except at two sites.

Effect of cresol isomers on reproduction and gene expression in Daphnia magna.

Cresols are frequently detected in freshwater systems due to their wide use as disinfectants. However, there is limited knowledge regarding their adverse long-term toxicity effects on reproduction and gene expression patterns of aquatic species. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the chronic toxic effects on reproduction and gene expression using D. magna. In addition, the bioconcentration behaviour of cresol isomers was also investigated. Based on the 48 h EC50 value, p-cresol's toxicity unit (TU) (13.77 TU, very toxic) was higher than o-cresol (8.05 TU, toxic) and m-cresol (5.52 TU, toxic). Regarding population-level effects, cresols resulted in a decrease in offspring and a delay in reproduction. However, cresols did not significantly affect daphnia's body weight throughout the course of the exposure period of 21 day, while third brood neonates' average body length (m-cresol and p-cresol) was significantly affected in sub-lethal concentrations. In addition, the gene transcription did not vary significantly across treatments. For bioconcentration exposure experiments, D. magna quickly eliminated all cresols from their body, suggesting that cresol isomers are unlikely to bioaccumulate in aquatic species.

Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries.

The proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) over recent years has made their surveillance complex. The analysis of raw municipal influent wastewater can allow a broader insight into community consumption patterns of NPS. This study examines data from an international wastewater surveillance program that collected and analysed influent wastewater samples from up to 47 sites in 16 countries between 2019 and 2022. Influent wastewater samples were collected over the New Year period and analysed using validated liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry methods. Over the three years, a total of 18 NPS were found in at least one site. Synthetic cathinones were the most found class followed by phenethylamines and designer benzodiazepines. Furthermore, two ketamine analogues, one plant based NPS (mitragynine) and methiopropamine were also quantified across the three years. This work demonstrates that NPS are used across different continents and countries with the use of some more evident in particular regions. For example, mitragynine has highest mass loads in sites in the United States, while eutylone and 3-methylmethcathinone increased considerably in New Zealand and in several European countries, respectively. Moreover, 2F-deschloroketamine, an analogue of ketamine, has emerged more recently and could be quantified in several sites, including one in China, where it is considered as one of the drugs of most concern. Finally, some NPS were detected in specific regions during the initial sampling campaigns and spread to additional sites by the third campaign. Hence, wastewater surveillance can provide an insight into temporal and spatial trends of NPS use.

Development of an embedded molecular structure-based model for prediction of micropollutant treatability in a drinking water treatment plant by machine learning from three years monitoring data.

In this study, an autoencoder-based molecular structure embedding model was developed to predict treatability of micropollutant in a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) by machine learning using 69 micropollutants monitoring data at 18 DWTPs for three years. The molecular structure, which contains physicochemical characteristics, was embedded as a fixed-length vector that is advantageous for data-driven analysis and machine learning. First, the molecular structure of the micropollutants was converted to a sequence of tokens using the simplified molecular-input line-entry system (SMILES) pair encoding tokenizer, a frequency-based tokenization method. It was then compressed into fixed-length vectors using an autoencoder trained on various molecular structures within the Chemical Entities of Biological Interest. To validate the proposed models, a binary classification of micropollutant treatability was performed using the embedded molecular structure of micropollutants with various external features, such as concentration, season, and the presence of specific drinking water treatment processes by machine learning. The accuracy of the developed model for the 69 micropollutants in this study was 0.86, and the molecular structure was determined to be the most important feature. Furthermore, an accuracy of 0.71 was obtained in external validation for pharmaceuticals and personal care products that were not used for training. This shows that the proposed embedding vector can be generalized to unseen molecules during the training process, which means that it reflects the characteristics of the molecular structures.

Human exposure to short-chain chlorinated paraffins and organophosphate flame retardants in relation to paired multiple sources.

In this study, the levels and distributions of short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) and organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) were determined in 10-88 aged human serum/hair and their paired multiple exposure sources, including one-day composite food, drinking water, and house dust. The average concentration of SCCPs and OPFRs were respectively 6313 and 176 ng/g lipid weight (lw) in serum, 1008 and 108 ng/g dry weight (dw) in hair, 1131 and 27.2 ng/g dw in food, not detected and 45.1 ng/L in drinking water, and 2405 and 864 ng/g in house dust. The levels of SCCPs in serum of adults were significantly higher than those of juvenile (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.05), whereas gender showed no statistically significant difference in SCCPs and OPFRs levels. In addition, there were significant relationships of OPFR concentrations between serum and drinking water as well as hair and food using the multiple linear regression analysis, whereas no correlation was observed for SCCPs. Based on the estimated daily intake, the major exposure pathway for SCCPs was food, while for OPFRs, it was food and drinking water with three order magnitude safety margin.

Target and suspect screening of (new) psychoactive substances in South Korean wastewater by LC-HRMS.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a type of abused drug designed to mimic the effects of the currently known illicit drugs, whose structures are constantly changing to escape surveillance. The quick identification of NPS use in the community therefore demands immediate action. This study aimed to develop a target and suspect screening method using LC-HRMS to identify NPS in wastewater samples. An in-house database of 95 traditional and NPS was built using the reference standards, and an analytical method was developed. Wastewater samples were collected from 29 wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) across South Korea, representing 50 % of the total population. The psychoactive substances in waste water samples were screened using in-house database and developed analytical methods. A total of 14 substances were detected in the target analysis, including three NPS (N-methyl-2-AI, 25E-NBOMe, and 25D-NBOMe) and 11 traditional psychoactive substances and their metabolites (zolpidem phenyl-4-COOH, ephedrine, ritalinic acid, tramadol, phenmetrazine, phendimetrazine, phentermine, methamphetamine, codeine, morphine, and ketamine). Out of these, N-methyl-2-AI, zolpidem phenyl-4-COOH, ephedrine, ritalinic acid, tramadol, phenmetrazine, and phendimetrazine were detected with a detection frequency of over 50 %. Primarily, N-methyl-2-Al was detected in all the wastewater samples. Additionally, four NPSs (amphetamine-N-propyl, benzydamine, isoethcathinone, methoxyphenamine) were tentatively identified at level 2b in a suspect screening analysis. This is the most comprehensive study to investigate NPS using target and suspect analysis methods at the national level. This study raises a need for continuous monitoring of NPS in South Korea.

Transgenerational effects of benzotriazole on the gene expression, growth, and reproduction of Daphnia magna.

Due to its widespread and intensive use as a corrosion inhibitor, benzotriazole is ubiquitously detected from a few parts per billion to several hundred parts per million in aquatic environments. The long-term toxicity of benzotriazole is unclear despite its low acute toxicity. Therefore, we investigated the transgenerational effects of benzotriazole at the genomic and individual levels using the freshwater zooplankton Daphnia magna. Maternal exposure to sublethal concentrations (15 and 30 mg/L) of benzotriazole exerted transgenerational effects on D. magna at the genomic and individual levels even in descendants that have never been exposed to benzotriazole. Significant alterations in the expression of Cyp, GST, Vtg1, and Hb and in neonate size were observed in the unexposed F3 generation, confirming the transgenerational effect of benzotriazole. Interestingly, detoxification related genes Cyp and GST were unaffected or downregulated in the exposed generation but upregulated in the following unexposed generations. Furthermore, continuous multigenerational exposure to an environmental concentration (4.3 µg/L) of benzotriazole also upregulated detoxification genes in decent generations but exerted no individual-level effects in subsequent generations.

Evaluation of population estimation methods for wastewater-based epidemiology in a metropolitan city.

This study evaluated the effect of population estimation on the calculation of drug biomarker consumption using wastewater-based epidemiology. Population estimates using mobile phone data, census data, and wastewater quality parameters, such as biological oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP), were evaluated in six different wastewater treatment plant catchment areas of Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea. The population based on mobile phone data was affected by the patterns of non-resident population movements in each area. The population-normalized daily loads (PNDLs) of methamphetamine were compared according to the different population results. The PNDLs using the population based on mobile phone data (PNDLMobile) was 5.87-27.0 mg/d/1000 people. The PNDLMobile values were notably different from the PNDLs using wastewater quality parameters (PNDLWastewater) (PNDLWastewater/PNDLMobile: 51-148 %, mean 93 %, relative standard deviation (RSD) 36 %), indicating the unsuitability of population estimation using BOD, TN, and TP. In areas with a large concentration of workplaces, the PNDLs using census data (PNDLCensus) differed from the PNDLMobile values (PNDLCensus/PNDLMobile: 57-124 %, mean 94 %, RSD 27 %), whereas other areas showed similar values for PNDLCensus and PNDLMobile (PNDLCensus/PNDLMobile: 95-108 %, mean 102 %, RSD 4.2 %). In particular, the total population estimates of the six survey areas using census data were approximately the same as those based on mobile phone data (RSD: 0.8 %), indicating a decrease in the influence of the non-residential active population in the entire metropolitan city.

Simultaneous multi-residue analytical method for anesthetics and sedatives in seafood samples by LC-ESI/MSMS.

A simultaneous multi-residue analytical method for 27 regulated and unregulated anesthetics and sedatives in seafood using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (LC-ESI/MSMS) was developed and tested on flatfish, eels, and shrimp. To optimize the efficiency of the method, extraction and clean-up procedures with various solvents and sorbents were tested. The most efficient pretreatment methods were extraction using acetonitrile (ACN) only (for flatfish and eel) and 0.1 % ammonium acetate in ACN (for shrimp). Validation was performed under the guidelines of CODEX Alimentarius (CAC/GL-71) and the Korean National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS). The limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, and precision for all compounds ranged from 0.0002 to 0.002 mg/kg, 0.0005-0.005 mg/kg, 64.7-112.5 %, and 1.0-8.6 %, respectively. The coefficient of determination (linearity, R2) was over 0.98. Therefore, the method meets the requirements of both the domestic and international guidelines.

Occurrence and removal of benzotriazole and benzothiazole in drinking water treatment plants.

The occurrence and removal of four benzotriazoles (BTRs) and five benzothiazoles (BTHs) in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) and bottled water were investigated. The mean total BTR and BTH concentrations were 390 and 117 ng/L in raw water, 51.2 and 66.5 ng/L in treated water, and 0.758 and 48.4 ng/L in bottled water, respectively. Different distribution patterns were observed according to the water type, with the dominant BTR being 1H-BTR (mean: 57.8%) in raw water and a predominance of BTH in bottled water (mean: 84.6%). In the DWTPs, the mean removal of BTRs (90.9%) was better than that of BTHs (29.3%). The BTRs were efficiently removed in DWTPs, and in particular during adsorption processes. 5Cl-BTR had a high removal efficiency (75.7%) in the adsorption processes, followed by 5M-BTR (70.0%), 5,6-di-MeBTR (58.4%), and 1H-BTR (50.1%). By contrast, BTHs were not efficiently removed in DWTPs, although relatively high removal efficiencies were achieved with an ozonation process (43.1%) compared to other treatment processes. In treated drinking and bottled water, the hazard quotients (HQs) of the representative BTRs and BTHs were acceptable (defined as HQ < 1), with a safety margin of 2-5 orders of magnitude.