S2, 2022-23

MSc in Environmental and Public Health Management, HKBU

EPHM 7070 Research Methodologies in Environmental

Monitoring and Public Health Protection

Ecotoxicology techniques

Haoxiang Wu
Department of Biology, HKBU
E-mail: wuhaoxiang@hkbu.edu.hk
 Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:

• Comprehend the concept of ecotoxicology

• Understand how various chromatographic

instrument works and the principles behind
the operation of the major instrumental
components, including injectors, columns and
detectors
2
 CONTENT
• Extraction procedures

• Separation
Ø Gas chromatography (GC)
Ø High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

• Detection and quantification

Ø Detectors
Ø Calculation

3
 The beginning of the environmental
movement
• American marine
biologist and writer
Rachel Carson published
Silent Spring in 1962,
covered the effects of
uncontrolled pesticide
use
• Led to national ban on
DDT and other pesticides
and the establishment of
the US Environmental
Protection Agency

4
DichloroDiphenylTrichloroethane (DDT)
• Widely used organochlorine insecticide until it was
banned in 1972
• Metabolites: DDE, DDD
• Not easily biodegradable
• Accumulates in soil and sediment runoff
• Toxic to both animals and humans
• Bio-magnification

5
 Heavy metals
• Lead, copper, mercury, arsenic,
cadmium…etc.
• Effects on human extensively studied
• Bioaccumulation well-known in marine
system

6
 Lethal toxicity
• Easy to measure
• Quantified by median lethal dose, LD50

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 Sublethal effects
• Effects on physiology, behavior,
immunology, fecundity…etc.
• Harder to observe and quantify
• Discovered by chance or through long-term
monitoring

Atrazine turns male frogs into females

Mercury causes homosexuality in male ibises 8

Extraction Procedures
 Extraction Procedures
• In order to analyse a sample, the contaminant
must first be extracted from the sample so
that it can be concentrated and subjected to
an appropriate analytical method

10
 Solid Phase Clean Up Columns
• Pass a crude extract of the sample (e.g. pass water
down a specially designed chromatography column
which adsorbs the analyte
• The column is then washed by passing a buffer or
solvent down it to remove any interfering chemicals
and then the analyte eluted with a solvent
• Columns can be bought pre-packed and are disposable
• E.g. to extract the contaminant from a water sample
into an organic solvent
– Four major steps: conditioning, sample addition, washing,
elution

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12
Separation
 Chromatography
• Chromatography was invented
by Mikhail Tswett (Russian
botanist, 1872-1919) in 1901
during his research on plant
pigments
– Technique was used to
separate various plant
pigments such as chlorophylls,
xanthophylls and arotenoids Chromatography:
into bands on a column of Greek for colour = chroma,
chalk write = graphein

14
 Terminology
• Chromatograph: Instrument employed for
chromatography
• Eluent: Fluid entering a column
• Eluate: Fluid exiting the column
• Elution: The process of passing the mobile phase
through the column.
• Flow rate: How much mobile phase passed /
minute (ml/min).
• Linear velocity: Distance passed by mobile phase
per 1 min in the column (cm/min)

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Tswett’s Chromatography Experiment
Start: A glass column End: A series of
is filled with colored bands is
powdered limestone formed,
(CaCO3). corresponding to
An ethanol extract of the different
leaf pigments is pigments in the
Later
applied to the top of original plant
the column. extract. These
Ethanol is used to bands were later
flush the pigments determined to be
down the column. chlorophylls,
xanthophylls and
carotenoids.

16
 Chromatography
• Chromatography is a physical method of
separation in which the components to be
separated are distributed between two phases,
one of which is stationary while the other moves
in a definite direction (International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1993)
– A separation technique
– Chromatograph is the separation equipment
and chromatogram is an out-put chart obtained from
the analysis

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 Principles of Chromatography
• A physical separation process
• Any chromatography system is composed of
three components:
– Mixture to be separated
– Stationary phase: The apparatus which the
mixture moves through and get separated. May
be a solid, or a liquid supported on a solid or gel.
– Mobile phase: Gas or a liquid that carries the
mixture of components through the stationary
phase.
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Paper and Thin Layer Chromatography
The solvent moves up the paper by capillary action,
carrying mixture components at different rates.

Solvent
front

Later

Solvent

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How does chromatography work?
• In all chromatographic separations, the sample is
transported in a mobile phase (gas, or liquid)
• The mobile phase is then forced through a stationary
phase held in a column or on a solid surface
– The stationary phase needs to be something that does not
react with the mobile phase or the sample
• The sample then has the opportunity to interact with
the stationary phase as it moves past it
– Samples that interact greatly will move more slowly
– Samples that interact weakly will move more quickly
– Therefore the samples are separated into their
components due to their difference in interaction rates

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 Flow

Column is
packed with
particulate
stationary
phase.

21
In a mixture, each component has a different distribution coefficient, K, and thus
spends a different amount of time absorbed on the solid packing phase vs being
carried along with the flowing gas

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

More volatile materials are carried through the column more rapidly than less
volatile materials, which results in a separation.
 If a detector is used to determine when the components
elute from the column, a series of Gaussian peaks are
obtained; one for each component in the mixture that was
separated by the column.
The first two components were not
completely separated, i.e. the
resolution is poor

Resolution: A measure of the

separation of two adjacent peaks.
The higher the resolution value,
the greater the separation.

Retention Time: The elapsed time between Peaks in general tend to

sample injection and the appearance of the become shorter and
chromatographic peak apex. wider with time.
Gas Chromatography (GC)
 Gas Chromatography
• Good for volatile samples (up to about 250oC)

• 0.1-1.0 μL of liquid or 1-10 ml vapor

• Can detect <1 ppm with certain detectors

• Can be easily automated for injection and

data analysis

25
Components of a Gas Chromatograph
• Carrier gas: Serves to transport the injected sample to
the system.
– Gas selected should be inert to the sample and
column packing material
– Care should be taken to remove any residual moisture
or other gaseous impurities
– Usually N2 or He

• Sample Injector: Constant volume injection (syringe/

septum) of sample into the carrier gas

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 Components of a Gas Chromatograph
• Column: Short (1.5 – 2 m) or long (>30 m)
- Stainless steel or glass

• Detector:
– MS -Mass spectrometer
– TC - thermal conductivity
– FID - flame ionisation detector

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 Plot of GC Elution Data for
Dichloromethane (DCM) and Chloroform

Good: Peaks are smooth, well separated and elute quickly

 Plot of GC Elution Data for
Dichloromethane (DCM) and Chloroform

Poor: Peaks are noisy, due to flickering flame, and elute

slowly
 Determination of the amount of
sample components present
• The peak height is proportional to the amount
of material eluting from the column at any
given time
• The area under the peak is a measure of the
total amount of material that has eluted from
the column.

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Determination of the amount of sample components
present (con’t)
To simplify the measurement of the area under the Gaussian curve,
the curve can be approximated as a triangle

The height is measured at the point where the two tangents intersect
(which is above the actual peak of the curve)

Area = 1/2 wb h

wb 31
 https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=4Xaa9
WdXVTM
• The sample is injected into the chromatograph
• The sample vapourises in a heated injection chamber and is introduced into a
moving stream of gas
• Vapourised sample is then swept into a column filled with particles coated with a liquid
adsorbent and passed through the column
• Vapourised sample goes through many gas-liquid partitioning processes and the
components are separated 32
High Performance Liquid
Chromatography (HPLC)
High Performance Liquid Chromatography
(HPLC)
• HPLC is the most widely used type of chromatography
– High sensitivity, accurate quantitative analysis
– Useful for separating non-volatile and thermally unstable
compounds
• Like all chromatographic techniques HPLC requires a
mobile phase and a stationary phase.
• Principle behind chromatographic technique is similar to
that of GC, however the mobile phase is a liquid instead
of a gas
• Can separate compounds that are dissolved in a solution
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 HPLC
• The stationary phase is fine particle (3-5 μm diameter)
silica with various chemical groups attached to it.
Commonly used group is octadecyl silane (ODS or C18)
which is attached to the hydroxyl groups of the silica
support.
• Since the stationary phase particle size is very small, the
mobile phase has to be pumped at high pressure (about
1500 psi) to force it through the column
• Enormous surface area of the column readily separates
very similar molecules
– Very high resolving power

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 Components of HPLC

F
D

B C

A
E G

A - Mobile Phase Reservoir E - Detector

B - Pump F - Data Analyser
C - Sample Injector G - Waste Container
D - Column (Stationary Phase) 36
 Components of HPLC
A - Mobile Phase Reservoir
B - Pump
C - Sample Injector
D - Column (Stationary Phase)
E - Detector
F - Data Analyser
G - Waste Container

Typical packed column for HPLC. This particular

column has an internal diameter of 4.6 mm
and a length of 150 mm, and is packed with 5
μm particles coated with stationary phase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN7euA1fS4Y 37
 HPLC Applications
Bioscience
proteins
Chemical peptides
nucleotides
polystyrenes
dyes
phthalates

tetracyclines
Pharmaceuticals corticosteroids
antidepressants
barbiturates
Consumer Products
lipids
antioxidants
sugars
Environmental
polyaromatic hydrocarbons Clinical
Inorganic ions
amino acids
Herbicides
vitamins
Pesticides
homocysteine
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 HPLC
• The order of elution from the column is related to the
polarity of the molecule

Most polar Substance Water solubility

Phenol 66666
Uracil 3580
Acetophenone Slightly soluble
Methyl benzoate Insoluble
Least polar Toluene Insoluble

• For a reverse phase HPLC with a relatively polar solvent,

the more hydrophobic the molecule the longer it will
remain on the column
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 Mobile Phases
• Elution order of solutes in HPLC is governed by polarity
• For a normal-phase separation: solutes of lower polarity
spend proportionally less time in the polar stationary phase
and are the first solutes to elute from the column.
– Retention times in normal-phase HPLC can be controlled by
adjusting the mobile phase’s properties. e.g. if resolution
between two solutes is poor, switching to a less polar mobile
phase keeps the solutes on the column for a longer time and
provides more opportunity for their separation.
• In reversed-phase HPLC the order of elution is the opposite
of that in a normal-phase separation
– More polar solutes elute first
– Increasing the polarity of the mobile phase leads to longer
retention times. Conversely, shorter retention times require a
mobile phase of lower polarity
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Detection and quantification
 Detectors
• The detector in chromatography identifies and
measures the concentration of eluting
components in the mobile phase
• Characteristics of a good detector:
– High sensitivity
– Low noise
– Fast response
– Insensitivity to changes in type of solvent, flow rate,
and temperature
– Low dead volume (minimal peak broadening)
– Operational simplicity and reliability

42
 Detectors for HPLC
Common
HPLC detectors
Abbreviation
1 UV detector UV
2 Visible detector VIS
3 PDA detector PDA
4 Multi-Angle light scattering detector MALS
5 Optical rotation detector OR
6 Electrochemical detector EC
7 Refractive-Index detector RI
8 Mass spectrometer MS
9 Conductivity detector CD
10 Fluorescence detector FL
11 Chemi-luminescence detector CL
12 Evaporative light scattering detector ELS
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 Mass Spectrometry
• All chemical substances are combinations of
atoms
• Atoms of different elements have different
masses (H = 1, C = 12, O = 16, S = 32, etc)
• Different atoms combine in different ways to
form molecular sub-units called functional
groups.

44
 Mass Spectrometry (con’t)
• Mass of each group is the combined mass of the
atoms forming the group
• Examples: phenyl- (C6H5): mass = 77
• Methyl- (CH3) mass = 15
• By breaking molecules into constituent groups
and measuring the mass of the individual
fragments (using MS), the following can be
determined: Can
• What groups are present in the elucidate
original molecule the
• How the groups are combined together molecular
structure
45
 Mass Spectrometry
• Mass spectrometry is a powerful technique for
chemical analysis that is used to:
– Identify unknown organic compounds
– Quantify known compounds
– Elucidate the molecular structure
• By
– Measuring the molecular weight
– Determining the molecular formula

46
 Principle of Operation
• A mass spectrometer is a “molecule smasher”

• Ionisation à molecular fragments, atoms, ions à

separated according to mass-to-charge ratio
(m/z) à detection

• Measured masses correspond to molecular

structure and atomic composition of parent
molecule
– Allows determination and elucidation of molecular
structure

47
 Applications of Mass Spectrometry
• Enviromental monitoring and analysis - Soil, water and air
pollutants, water quality, etc.
• Geochemistry – Age determination, soil and rock
composition, oil and gas surveying
• Chemical and petrochemical industry – Quality control
• Applications in Biotechnology
• Identify structures of biomolecules, such as carbohydrates, nucleic
acids
• Sequence biopolymers such as proteins and oligosaccharides
• Determination of drug metabolic pathways

48
 How does it work?
• The MS bombards a vaporised molecule
in a vacuum with either electrons or
positive ions which results in
fragmentation of the molecule
• The molecular fragment are charged
and their mass to charge ratio (m/z)
determines their trajectory as they
move towards a charged plate (the
detector)
• The plate is curved and so the position
at which they impact the plate is
dependent upon their m/z
• If all the fragments have the same
charge (e.g. z=1), it is their mass which
determines their position of collision
with the detector
• Each time an ion hits the detector a
signal is generated which is converted
to a printout that shows the molecular
fragmentation pattern
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https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-chemistry-beta/x2eef969c74e0d802:atomic-structure-and-
properties/x2eef969c74e0d802:mass-spectrometry-of-elements/v/mass-spectrometry
50
 How does it work?
• Generate spectrum by separating gas phase ions of
different mass to charge ratio (m/z)
• m = molecular or atomic mass,
• z = electrostatic charge unit
• In many cases (such as small molecules), z = 1 measured
m/z = mass of fragment
• An experienced mass spectrometrist can sit with a
spectrum and a calculator and determine the molecular
structure of an unknown compound by calculating the
difference between the m/z values for adjacent peaks
and so determine which chemical group had left the
molecule when under fire by electrons in the MS
– e.g. difference of 17 is likely that an –OH group has been lost
(O=16; H=1)
51
 Spectrum for Acetone
Acetone
Molecular Formula: C3H6O
Molecular Weight: 58.1

Spectral Database for Organic Compounds SDBS

http://sdbs.db.aist.go.jp/sdbs/cgi-bin/direct_frame_top.cgi 52
Deduce the molecular formula of a
compound from a mass spectrum
• A molecule with an empirical formula CH2O has the
simplified mass spectrum below. Deduce the molecular
formula of the compound.

53
Deduce the molecular formula of a
compound from a mass spectrum (con’t)
• Empirical formula = CH2O
• Molecular formula = CnH2nOn
• The parent ion has a relative mass of 60
• Molecular mass = n (12) + 2n (1) + n (16) = 30n
Therefore n=2
Molecular formula = C2H4O2

54
 HPLC: Quantification
• The analytical procedures are used to tentatively identify
contaminants
• More importantly, we have to determine the amount of
substance present in the sample and therefore to
determine the environmental concentration of a particular
pollutant
• The areas under the HPLC peaks are dependent upon light
absorption, and hence, proportional to the concentration
of the molecule which is responsible for the peak
• One could calculate the unknown substance concentration
in an environment using a calibration graph

55
 HPLC: Quantification
Example:
• The concentration of caffeine in beverages can be determined
by a reversed-phase HPLC separation using a mobile phase of
20% acetonitrile and 80% water and a nonpolar C8 column.
Results for a series of 10 μL injections of caffeine standards
are in the following table:
Caffeine (mg/L) Peak area (arb. units)
50.0 226,724
100.0 453,762
125.0 559,443
250.0 1,093,637

• What is the concentration of caffeine in a sample if a 10 μL

injection gives a peak area of 424,195? 56
 HPLC: Quantification
• This figure shows the calibration curve and calibration
equation for the set of external standards. Substituting the
sample’s peak area into the calibration equation gives the
concentration of caffeine in the sample as 94.4 mg/L

Answer:
y = mx + b
424,195 = 16,715 + 4318Ccaf

407,480 = 4318Ccaf
Therefore Ccaf = 94.4 mg/L 57
END

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