New specific and sensitive biomonitoring methods for chemicals of emerging health relevance

In this publication the challenges to cope for the aim to obtain innovative biomonitoring methods in our laboratory are visualized for di(2-propylheptyl)phthalate, 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxytoluene, 4-nonylphenol, 4-tert-octylphenol, 3-(4-methylbenzylidene)camphor, 4,4′-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, and Hexabromocyclododecane. For these substances new specific markers were explored based on animal or human kinetic data with urine being the preferred matrix compared to blood. The determination of these markers was complex in all cases, because the sample preparation as well as the detection by high performance liquid chromatography, capillary gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometers or high resolution mass spectrometry should enable the lowest possible detection limit by use of minimal biological sample volumes. To get a first hint of a possible background level, the analytical methods were applied to urine samples of about 40 persons for each chemical. For Di(2-propylheptyl)phthalate and 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole first results are presented from population biomonitoring.