Abstract:

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) impair living organisms by interfering with hormonal processes controlling cellular development. Reduction of EDCs in water by an environmentally benign method is an important green chemistry goal. One EDC, 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE₂), the active ingredient in the birth control pill, is excreted by humans to produce a major source of artificial environmental estrogenicity, which is incompletely removed by current technologies used by municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTPs). Natural estrogens found in animal waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) can also increase estrogenic activity of surface waters. An iron-tetraamidomacrocyclic ligand (Fe-TAML) activator in trace concentrations activates hydrogen peroxide and was shown to rapidly degrade these natural and synthetic reproductive hormones found in agricultural and municipal effluent streams. On the basis of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, apparent half-lives for 17 α- and 17 β-estradiol, estriol, estrone, and EE₂ in the presence of Fe-TAML and hydrogen peroxide were approximately 5 min and included a concomitant loss of estrogenic activity as established by E-Screen assay.