Occurrence and toxicity of haloacetaldehydes in

drinking waters: first evidence of iodo-acetaldehyde

as a water disinfection byproduct.
Cristina Postigo1,2, Susan D. Richardson3, Clara H. Jeong4, Elizabeth D.
Wagner4, Michael J. Plewa4, Jane Ellen Simmons2, Damia Barcelo.1,5
(1) National Health and environmental Effects Research Laboratory, (NHEERL-U.S.
EPA), Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
(2) Institute for Environmental Assessment and Water Research, (IDAEA-CSIC),
Barcelona, Spain.
(3) National Exposure Research Laboratory, (NERL-U.S. EPA), Athens, GA, USA.
(4) College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Department of
Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
(5) Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Girona, Spain.
Postigo.Cristina@epa.gov

The present work aims to investigate the occurrence of iodo-acetaldehyde

as a water disinfection byproduct (DBP) and compare its levels with those
measured for chloro- and bromo-acetaldehydes, and to evaluate the in vitro
genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of the complete class of haloacetaldehydes
(HALs) in mammalian Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells.
Two analytical methodologies were developed and validated to investigate
the occurrence of target HALs in water. Mono- and di-HALs were derivatized
with pentafluorobenzylhydroxylamine (PBFHA) and subsequently liquidliquid extracted. Trihaloacetaldehydes were extracted by means of solid
phase
extraction.
Analyte
detection
was
performed
with
gas
chromatography coupled to electron ionization mass spectrometry. These
methodologies were applied to the analysis of source and water samples
collected from 6 different water treatment plants in the USA which run
different
treatment
scenarios,
i.e.
chlorination,
chloramination,
chloramination with pre ozonation. Analysis of real drinking water samples
revealed that: (1) all target HALs, but bromo-acetaldehyde, were formed
during all drinking water treatments at ppb levels; (2) iodo-acetaldehyde
formation was observed under chloramination scenarios at levels below 2
ppb; and (3) source waters were free of HALs, except in one case where
tribromo-acetaldehyde was also detected.
Toxicity results showed that: 1) the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of these
compounds were not statistically correlated; 2) tribromo-, dibromo-, bromochloro, dibromo-chloro, and iodo-acetaldehyde presented
higher
cytotoxicity than all regulated trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids
(HAAs); 3) dibromo, dibromo-chloro, and chloro-acetaldehyde presented
higher genotoxicity than most regulated HAAs; and 4) no toxicity trends
were observed in terms of the type of halogen or the number of halogens
attached.

Acknowledgments: Cristina Postigo acknowledges support from the

European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under
grant agreement n 274379 (Marie Curie IOF). It reflects only the authors
views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of
the information contained therein. This abstract does not either reflect EPA
policy.