A review of monitoring methods for triclosan and its occurrence in aquatic environments

Triclosan is a phenyl ether with broad spectrum antimicrobial action which is employed in a great number of everyday household and personal care products including plastics, fabrics, soaps, deodorants, toothpaste, and cosmetics. There is serious concern, however, regarding this widespread use in terms of the potential environmental impacts of triclosan. Triclosan may enter the aquatic environment via numerous pathways including discharge of effluents from industries and wastewater treatment plants. To date, however, a comprehensive review of the determination of triclosan in aquatic environments has not been reported. Herein, we review the environmental concentration of triclosan in aquatic systems globally, as well as its stability and toxicity. The wide variety of monitoring methods utilized for the determination of triclosan are discussed, including those based on chromatography-mass spectrometry, electrochemistry, capillary zone electrophoresis and spectrophotometry over the last 10 years.