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Stability properties of natural estrogen conjugates in different aqueous samples at room temperature and tips for sample storage

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Abstract

It is important to keep natural estrogen conjugates (C-NEs) intact in aqueous environmental sample before sample preparation; otherwise, this may influence the accurate determination of NEs. Therefore, this work thoroughly investigated the stability of C-NEs in three different aqueous environmental samples under four different storage conditions, room temperature, low temperature of 4 °C, low pH of 3, and addition of HgCl2 at 2 g/L. Results showed that C-NEs in aqueous sample were easily deconjugated under low temperature of 4 °C, which has been widely used in sample collection and storage. Both the low pH of 3 and addition of HgCl2 at 2 g/L under room temperature could keep C-NEs intact in domestic wastewaters and river water within 36 h, but the latter could keep C-NEs stable longer. This work is the first to show that low pH of 3 alone could keep C-NEs intact, which suggested that the combined condition at low temperature of 4 °C that has been widely used could be omitted. Meanwhile, compared to pH adjustment, addition of 2 g/L HgCl2 into aqueous sample is more convenient and practical for 24-h composite sampling, which may be widely applied.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21577040; No. 21107025); Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China (No. 201904010100; No. 201510010162); Special funds for public welfare research and capacity building in Guangdong Province (No. 2015A020215003); Zhongshan Public Water Co. LTD for water micropollutant project (No. ZPW-2020-A-010); and the Guangdong Science and Technology Program (2020B121201003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Jun Zhang, Yi-ping Wan, Ze-hua Liu, Hao Wang & Zhi Dang

  2. Key Lab Pollution Control & Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Cluster, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Ze-hua Liu

  3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Ze-hua Liu

  4. Guangdong Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Center for Environment Risk Prevention and Emergency Disposal, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Ze-hua Liu

  5. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Yu Liu

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  1. Jun Zhang
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  2. Yi-ping Wan
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  4. Hao Wang
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Contributions

Jun Zhang, data analysis and original draft preparation; Yi-ping Wan, data analysis; Ze-hua Liu, supervisor, funding support, writing review; Hao Wang, sample collection; Zhi Dang, writing review; Yu Liu, writing review

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Correspondence to Ze-hua Liu.

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Zhang, J., Wan, Yp., Liu, Zh. et al. Stability properties of natural estrogen conjugates in different aqueous samples at room temperature and tips for sample storage. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 24589–24598 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17377-7

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