Abstract
Microplastics remain already ubiquitous in water environments, interacting and acting as vectors of several contaminants, including endocrine disrupting compounds. Consequently, it is essential to understand the interaction mechanisms between contaminants and microplastics and know possible factors that can influence this process. This study evaluated estriol (E3) sorption on pristine and degraded polyamide microplastics under the absence and presence of organic matter. The photodegradation process caused changes in the hydrophobicity of the microplastics, while the surface area and crystallinity remained unchanged over the exposure time. The data showed that E3 sorption is influenced by particle degradation due to the insertion of oxygenated groups on the polymer structural. In addition, the presence of organic matter has been shown to affect the sorption of E3 negatively. On the other hand, the kinetics showed that the process occurs in a few steps, and the sorption proportion of transfer of E3 molecules from the liquid to the solid phase is greater than the process of intraparticle diffusion. Hydrophobic interactions have been shown to play an essential role in the sorption process in pristine and degraded microplastics. At the same time, hydrogen bonds and linkages of organic matter and contaminants to the particles across bridges have also been recommended. The data demonstrate that organic matter can significantly affect the transport and sorption of E3 in the water environment and represent a risk to these ecosystems.
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Fonseca, V.F., Lara, L.Z., Bertoldi, C.F., Waldman, W.R., Fernandes, A.N. (2024). Polyamide Microplastics as Endocrine Disruptors: A Study About the Influence of Photodegradation and Sorption Mechanisms Under Distinct Environmental Context. In: Sivasankar, V., Sunitha, T.G. (eds) Microplastics and Pollutants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54565-8_7
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