Themed collection Recent Open Access Articles

Characterizing the degradation behavior of chemicals in the environment is a key component of chemical hazard and risk assessment.

A more ubiquitous use of process-based models will enhance the information gained from biogeochemical experimentation through both, a more rigorous interpretation of acquired data and the optimal design of future experiments.

While per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic organic substances with diverse structures, properties, uses, bioaccumulation potentials and toxicities, nearly all PFAS are highly persistent.

Bacteria degrading 1,2,3-trichloropropane were constructed by genetic engineering and may be applicable for groundwater bioremediation, following the example of 1,2-dichloroethane.

A multi-disciplinary perspective on connecting chemistry, exposure and medical information to “neurotoxicity” for mass spectrometry-based environmental assessment, including multiple interactive resources for readers to use and explore.

High persistence has important implications for chemicals regulation and management.

Applying POP screening to a large chemical domain requires less reliance on individual criteria and more on integrated assessment with models.

The distribution of trace elements (TEs) in the bituminous sands is dichotomous: V, Ni, Mo, Se and Re are found predominantly in the bitumen fraction, and all other TEs in the mineral fraction.

Optical surrogates are used to characterize dissolved organic matter composition like aromaticity and molecular weight. We both review the genesis of surrogate-composition relationships and critically evaluate additional supporting evidence.

The Galician rías (NW Iberia, Spain) are responsible for most of the national shellfish production. This is the first review of red tides in that area including an historical overview, social challenges and proposals for improving their monitoring.

Recent findings on oxidized organic compounds in the atmosphere and analytical methodologies for their detection and quantification.

PFAS are widely used in lithium-ion batteries, which may be problematic for the rapidly growing battery recycling industry.

Approaches to regulatory assessment and management of polymers are reviewed and opportunities for improvements are highlighted based on a critical appraisal of current science on their environmental fate and effects.

Time series of contaminants in the Arctic are an important instrument to detect emerging issues and to monitor the effectiveness of chemicals regulation. Climate change can affect the link between primary emissions and concentrations in Arctic wildlife.

Direct and indirect effects of climate change influence contaminant sources, transport, re-distribution and circulation in the physical environment of the Arctic. Linkages of such observations to Arctic ecosystem exposure and effects are needed.

Global climate change-driven shifts in physical and ecological processes may alter POPs concentrations in Arctic food webs.

Future climate change in the Arctic will lead to loss of ice, snow and permafrost, increasing human activity and development, and changes in wind and ocean circulation patterns, that could alter the pathways, distribution and fate of contaminants.

This review covers 40 laboratory- and plot-scale wildfire and rainfall simulation experiments which focus on wildfire hydrologic and water quality effects, guiding future researchers in the optimal design of their own simulation experiments.

Our critical review compares ARG profiles in the atmosphere across different locations and discusses characterization methods, atmospheric transport, and future research questions.

Synthetic fibre release is an important source of microplastics to agricultural soils, through the application of sewage sludge. Microplastics are potential vectors for the transport of sorbed metal(loid)s from wastewater to soils and organisms.

Pathways of human exposure to MPs and associated risks.

With polystyrene nanoparticles being widely used in various applications, there is a great need for deeper knowledge on the safety, fate and biological effects of these particles on both individual living organisms and the whole ecosystems.

A synoptic review of aquatic plastics research from Australia, the United Kingdom and China is presented, highlighting (a) key research and management challenges, and (b) a need to converge on standardised methods and bioindicator species to make global comparisons more reliable.

The essential-use concept is a tool that can guide the phase-out of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and potentially other harmful substances of concern.

The fate of plastic in the ocean is influenced by physical, chemical and biological stressors. These cause fragemntation and the formation of micro and nanoplastics but also degradation of plastics.

This novel investigation revealed substantial PFAS contamination and plastic-PFAS co-occurrence in yard waste compost. Insights gained from the distribution of PFAS in compost are valuable for improving its management and application.

The first step towards the urgently needed standardization of EOF methods for PFAS-total assessment is presented in this interlaboratory study.

The newly developed classifier has a balanced accuracy of 94.2%, better than any other classification model for aerobic biodegradability so far. During the model development, some data points needed to be excluded due to a very high variance.

We evaluated the occurrence of 154 organic contaminants from multiple chemical/use classes in San Francisco Bay watersheds during storm events, revealing complex mixtures and high concentrations transported to receiving waters.

PFAS in an urban environment can come from various sources. The main activity in the area, i.e. commercial versus municipal, can influence the overall loads and speciation of PFAS in the examined wastewater.

Fungal communities within bioretention cells were diverse, including taxa capable of biodegrading recalcitrant contaminants, and influenced by plant type. Fungal functional genes demonstrate bioremediation potential in stormwater infrastructure.

Chemical profiling of artificial turf crumb rubber reveals time-based trends in transformation products and transport pathways.

Ferrihydrite, a poorly crystalline Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide, is abundant in soils and is often found associated with organic matter.

An ice core dated 1967–2016 represents the longest Arctic deposition record for perfluoroalkylcarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and the longest global record of perfluoroalkylsulfonic acids (PFSAs), providing unique insights into their long-range transport.

This study reports the decrease in iron-bound organic carbon quantity and change in its composition in thawing permafrost soils, with implications for the bioavailability of the dissolved organic carbon pool.

Atmospheric aging enhances levels of fine particulate matter from road traffic and residential heating of current exhaust emission standards.

The rate constants of the six isomers of ISOPOO and SO₂ and their contributions to the global-scale sulphate formation were evaluated.

Organic aerosol formed from ocimene photooxidation has more oligomers compared to organic aerosol formed from other acyclic terpene precursors.

This study confirms encapsulation of nontreated and humic acid treated polystyrene and polyethylene microplastics into aragonite, main building block of coral skeleton.

We describe a robust and flexible protocol to collect water-soluble chemicals from leaf surfaces for atmosphere-biosphere interaction studies.

Common household activities including cooking and cleaning contribute to indoor air pollution. Here, a modelling study has been conducted to identify how these indoor sources of air pollution affect outdoor environments.

Coccolithophores are biogeochemically and ecologically important phytoplankton that produce calcium carbonate scales, or coccoliths. Here, we show that one species of coccolithophore grows coccoliths with uneven distribution of Sr, in contrast to current fractionation model theory.

Adsorption of different organic pollutants by three microplastics before and after weathering.

In this study, the disinfection effects of O₃, PMS, and H₂O₂ on MS2 coliphage in deionized (DI) water and secondary effluent water were systematically compared.

Glancing-angle laser-induced fluorescence is used to obtain adsorption isotherms of organic pollutants at the air–water interface.

The high strontium-90 uptake by the green microalga Tetraselmis chui is related to its ability to form strontium-rich inclusions of amorphous calcium carbonate (called micropearls).

Biodegradation of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in compost environment enriched with iron, and gelatin significantly enhanced microbial enzymatic activity, thus accelerating PLA degradation at mesophilic conditions (home/backyard composting setting).

III–V/silicon tandem solar cells offer a promising avenue for high-efficiency, high-stability photovoltaics with low environmental risk.

The uptake of total gaseous mercury (TGM) by Korean forest foliage is mainly affected by local wind speed, boosting its passage and absorption. Mercury levels and isotopic signatures in litter and topsoil fluctuate, particularly in areas with high wind speed, temperature, and low elevation.

Dibasic esters, indoor air pollutants emitted from furniture coatings, readily adsorb to surfaces thus initially decreasing their gas phase concentrations but then slowly desorb leading to possible long term exposure.

Methylmercury (MeHg) continues to pose a significant global health risk to wildlife and humans through fish consumption.

Cleaning products emit a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including some which are hazardous or can undergo chemical transformations to generate harmful secondary pollutants.

Microplastics, especially aged microplastics can become vectors of metals from environment to organisms with potential negative effects on food chain.

Quantitative structure–property relationships (QSPRs) can be used for the prediction of breakthrough of chemicals from wastewater treatment plants. These QSPRs are simple, interpretable, and checked both for overfitting and chance relationships.

Estimation of dermal bioaccessibility and characterization of listed-ingredient and residual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetic products.

This work presents a case study in applying a systematic review framework (SYRINA) to the identification of chemicals as endocrine disruptors.

This study assesses the environmental impact of the fluoropolymer industry in Europe by making an inventory of their emissions of PFASs and other fluorinated organic substances.

Despite the importance of structural control on metal stable isotope fractionation in inorganic and abiotic systems, the link between metal structural changes and related isotopic fractionation during reactions with organic surfaces and live cells remains poorly established.

Using the combination of total analysis and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify fluoropolymers in a broad range of consumer products.

We demonstrate the potential of deploying a UAV with MSI camera to contribute useful diagnostics on potential sub-surface contamination from an operational oil reprocessing site and report the impact on the environment after 50 years of operation.

Separation of a large amount of PAH contamination from soil by density differentiation.

Adding mass spectra from complex mixtures of chemicals relevant for exposomics to open spectral libraries such as MassBank and chemical databases like PubChem empowers identification efforts for non-target high resolution mass spectrometry workflows.

Mixtures extracted from beluga traditional food preparations activated oxidative stress response and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor but did not show any hormone-like effects.

The analysis of mixtures of environmental contaminants from marine mammal organs revealed distinct distribution patterns for single compounds. The combination of chemical analysis and bioassays can comprehensively characterize the mixture exposome.

By integrating the uptake kinetics of pesticide metabolites into plant uptake models, we highlight the importance of considering the bioconcentration of metabolites when assessing risks to human health.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted during cooking affect indoor air quality. Here, experiments and simulations were carried out to determine VOC emission rates and the factors driving the formation of harmful products via secondary chemistry.

This study investigates metal/metalloid concentrations and emission sources in fenceline communities of a heavy industry area using advanced online and offline mass spectrometry techniques.

Identification of novel PFAS, updating spatiotemporal trends and providing a framework for understanding white-tailed sea eagle PFAS exposure in Sweden.

EAWAG-PPS and enviPath are valuable tools to predict transformation products and elucidate biotransformation pathways of active pharmaceutical ingredients in activated sludge.

While our awareness of the toxicity of rare earth elements to aquatic organisms increases, our understanding of their direct interaction and accumulation remains limited.