Publications by authors named "Frank Menger"

Photodegradation of plastic consumer products is known to accelerate weathering and facilitate the release of chemicals and plastic particles into the aquatic environment. However, these processes are complex. In our presented pilot study, eight plastic consumer products were leached in distilled water under strong ultraviolet (UV) light simulating eight months of Central European climate and compared to their respective dark controls (DCs).

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Identification of bioaccumulating contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) via suspect and non-target screening remains a challenging task. In this study, ion mobility separation with high-resolution mass spectrometry (IM-HRMS) was used to investigate the effects of drift time (DT) alignment on spectrum quality and peak annotation for screening of CECs in complex sample matrices using data independent acquisition (DIA). Data treatment approaches (Binary Sample Comparison) and prioritisation strategies (Halogen Match, co-occurrence of features in biota and the water phase) were explored in a case study on zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) in Lake Mälaren, Sweden's largest drinking water reservoir.

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The Spanish Mediterranean basin is particularly susceptible to climate change and human activities, making it vulnerable to the influence of anthropogenic contaminants. Therefore, conducting comprehensive and exhaustive water quality assessment in relevant water bodies of this basin is pivotal. In this work, surface water samples from coastal lagoons or estuaries were collected across the Spanish Mediterranean coastline and subjected to target and suspect screening of 1,585 organic micropollutants by liquid chromatography coupled to ion mobility separation and high resolution mass spectrometry.

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Only a few dozens of the several thousand existing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are monitored using conventional target analysis. This study employed suspect screening to examine patterns of emerging and novel PFAS in German and Chinese river water affected by industrial point sources. In total, 86 PFAS were (tentatively) identified and grouped into 18 structure categories.

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Environmental monitoring studies based on target analysis capture only a small fraction of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and miss pollutants potentially harmful to wildlife. Environmental specimen banks, with their archived samples, provide opportunities to identify new CECs by temporal trend analysis and non-target screening. In this study, archived white-tailed sea eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) muscle tissue was analysed by non-targeted high-resolution mass spectrometry.

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Non-target analysis (NTA) employing high-resolution mass spectrometry is a commonly applied approach for the detection of novel chemicals of emerging concern in complex environmental samples. NTA typically results in large and information-rich datasets that require computer aided (ideally automated) strategies for their processing and interpretation. Such strategies do however raise the challenge of reproducibility between and within different processing workflows.

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Pesticides are widespread anthropogenic chemicals and well-known environmental contaminants of concern. Much less is known about transformation products (TPs) of pesticides and their presence in the environment. We developed a novel suspect screening approach for not well-explored pesticides ( = 16) and pesticide TPs ( = 242) by integrating knowledge from national monitoring with high-resolution mass spectrometry data.

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There is growing worry that drinking water can be affected by contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), potentially threatening human health. In this study, a wide range of CECs (n = 177), including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and other compounds, were analysed in raw water and in drinking water collected from drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) in Europe and Asia (n = 13). The impact of human activities was reflected in large numbers of compounds detected (n = 115) and high variation in concentrations in the raw water (range 15-7995 ng L for ∑CECs).

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Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are known point sources of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) to the aquatic environment, but current knowledge is mostly limited to well-known chemical structures. In this study, we sought to identify unknown CECs polluting the aquatic environment through a novel suspect screening approach for organohalogens, i.e.

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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) that cause concern regarding their environmental impact and risk to human health. In this study, zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos were exposed to PFASs for six days, to investigate behaviour toxicity and bioconcentration factor (BCF). Nine individual PFASs (five C-C perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) (PFPeA, PFHxA, PFHpA, PFOA, PFNA), three C, C and C perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) (PFBS, PFHxS, PFOS) and 6:2 fluorotelomersulfonate (6:2 FTSA)) and a mixture of these were investigated at seven concentrations ranging from environmentally relevant to acutely toxic levels.

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