Document DqywOEQVLLaxqVabJzkyMOOo

Uull. Environ. Contam. `Toxicol. (IY93) 50:794-797 0 1993 Springer-Verlag New York Inc. *Environmental Residues of Benzene in Chemical Products Suresh Chandra Rastogi Ministry of Environment, National Environmental Research Institute, Department of Environmental Chemistry, P.O. Box 358, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark Benzene is known to be toxic to human health and the environment (RSC 1989; Howard 1990). It is also a human carcinogen (Margolick and Vogt 1992). The use of benzene in the formulation of chemical products, especially consumer products, is therefore avoided. Benzene residues may, however, be present in various chemical products, because it is a very important starting material for chemical manufacture. Traces of benzene may also be expected in chemical products in which petroleum fractions are used as ingredients. Organic solvent containing chemical products in this respect may be of concern because they may contain petroleum fractions like benzine, white spirit, mixture of aromatic hydrocarbons, etc. Furthermore, in any industry, contamination of non-benzene products with benzene may occur, if benzene-containig materials are used for some other purposes in that industry. Thus, besides tobacco smoke and gasoline combustion, which are the major sources of benzene exposure to the general population (Graedel 1978; IARC 1982), the general population may also be exposed to benzene vapours during the professional- or non-professional use of chemical products. The knowledge of benzene content in various chemical products, may therefore be useful for the estimation of exposure of benzene to the general population. In the present study, 133 differnt chemical products, both consumer products and products for professional use, have been investigated for the content of benzene. The products chosen for the study, painters' materials, lubricants, abrasives and glues, all are well known to contain a variety of organic solvents. MATERIALS AND METHODS Chemical products investigated for the content of benzene are described in Table 1. The products were obtained from the Danish importers/manufacturer of these products or from the Danish market. Send reprint request to S.C.Rastogi at above address. 794 Table 1. Chemical products investigated for benzene content. Chemical Product Number of Products Painters' materials (paints, paint-bases, primers, paint strippers, paint diluents and cleaners) Lubricants and abrasives Model and hobby glues 82 25 26 Gas chromatography (GC) was used for the analysis of benzene. The chemical products without any non-volatile matrix were analysed by direct injection of the sample into a chromatograph. Benzene analysis of the products containing a non-volatile matrix was performed by employing a headspace GC technique. A CP-Sil-5CB capillary column was used for the analysis of benzene in the products that contained non-polar petroleum fractions. Benzene analysis in the other products was performed by the use of a Supelcowax 10 capillary column. The GC was performed using a Hewlett Packard (HP) gas chromatograph HP 5890A coupled to a HP 3 3 9 3 A integrator, and a HP 19395A headspace autosampler, for the headspace analysis. The experimental conditions for GC analysis were as follows: GC column: Supelcowax 10, 60 m x 0.32 mm, 0.25 pm film. Temperature programme: 8 min at 5OoC, 2C/min to 100C, thereafter 10C/min to 220'C. Injector: Split injector at 250C, injection vol. 1 pL. Detector: Flame ionisation detector at 25OOC. Carrier gas: N,, column flow 1 mL/min, split 1:30. Makeup gas: N,, 30 mL/min. or GC column: CP-Sil-5CB, 50 m x 0.32 mm, 1.2 pm film. Temperature programme: 3 min at 40C and thereafter 5'C/min to 25OOC. All other conditions were the same as described for Supelcowax column. For the headspace GC analysis, approximately 50 mg of a homogeneous sample was accurately weighed in a 10-mL headspace glass vial. The vial was capped immediately 705 after weighing with a PTFE-coated silicone septum. The glass vials and the septa were preheated at 150C for 16-18 h before use. The headspace analysis of the samples was then performed by GC as described above. The headspace autosampler was used under the following conditions: oil bath at 80-C; loop temperature 130C; equilibration time 3 h; loop vol. 1 mL; and carrier gas N,, 25 mL/min. All the products were analysed by GC-mass spectrometry (MS) to confirm the identification of benzene. Conditions for GC-MS analysis were essentially the same as described before (Rastoqi 1991, 1992). Benzene content ?J icthefollowing solvents (concentration in the products $.of >1%) as ingredients: toluene, xylenes, mixture of I-aromatichydrocarbons C, - pzine (a mixture of alkanes C,,, C, - wCh,i,tecyscpliorhietx,anaen,d benmeth- %ylcyclohexane and isooctane). The results of the pre- I sent study thus indicate that benzene residues may be t expected in the chemical products in which,above men- tioned solvents are used as ingredients. As the pro- ..ductsanalysed in the present study were both for ;professional and non-professional use, an unwanted 'exposure of the general population with benzene may occur. REFERENCES Graedel TE (1978) Chemical Compounds in the Atmos, Academic Press, New York. Howard PH (1990) Handbook of Environmental Fate and Exposure Data, Vol. 11. Lewis Publishers, Michigan. IARC (1982) Discussion on benzene. IARC Eva1 Carcinogen . Risk Chem Hum. IARC Monograph no. 2 9 , Lyon, pp 95- 144. ' Hargolick JB, Vogt RF (1991) Environmental effects on , the human immune system and the risk of cancer: facts and the fears in the era of AIDS. Environ Carcinogen Ecotoxicol Revs C9: 155-206. -Rastogi SC (1991) Analysis of organic solvents by head- \ space gas chromatography mass spectrometry. J High ; Resolution Chromatogr 14: 587-589. i Rastogi SC (1992) Headspace analysis of chlorinated Y. organic solvents in aerosol cans by gas chromato- graphy. Chromatographia 3 3 : 117-121. RSC (1989) Chemical Safety Data Sheets, Vol. 1: Sol- vents. D. Walsh (ed.), R o y a l Society of Chemistry, ' Cambridge Received October 10, 1992; accepted December 4, 1992. 797 ....