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Abstract
The antioxidant 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-toluene (BHT) is widely used as an additive
to increase the tenability of food and plastics. BHT is degraded to 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde
(BHT-CHO) in mammals, as well as in the natural environment such as in water and soils.
BHT-CHO has been studied extensively in terms of their potential toxicities. The present
investigation was carried out to quantify BHT and BHT-CHO in river, ground, rain and
drinking water obtained from several locations in Germany. Apart from the compounds
mentioned above, 1,2-bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)ethane (2-BHT), which
is a dimer of BHT, was also detected in the extracts of some ground water samples.
The applied analytical method is based on solid phase extraction (SPE) to concentrate
trace compounds from water samples followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
(GC/MS) of the extracts. A total of 51 of the respective water samples were used for
extraction purposes and analyte recoveries were all > or = 80%. The determination
limit for BHT was 5 ng l(-1) and for BHT-CHO 16 ng l(-1). The standard deviations
for the analytical procedure were 6% for BHT and 10% for BHT-CHO. The use of the antioxidant
BHT in Germany has resulted in water concentrations of 7-791 ng l(-1) in the rivers
Rhine, Elbe, Main, Oder, Nidda and Schwarzbach. The degradation product BHT-CHO was
also detected in the river water samples at concentrations between 29 and 223 ng l(-1).
The concentrations of BHT measured in German rivers are lower compared to values measured
in the USA and Japan 20 years ago. In ground water, levels for BHT varied from non-detectable
up to 2156 ng l(-1) and for BHT-CHO from non-detectable up to 674 ng l(-1). Both compounds
were also detected in rain water in Frankfurt/Main at a concentration of 1797 ng l(-1)
for BHT and 59 ng l(-1) for BHT-CHO.