A compound is discovered "worrying" in chlorinated drinking water

Nov. 22 () –

A team of researchers from the United States and Switzerland has reported the discovery of a hitherto unknown compound in the chlorinated drinking water.

Inorganic chloramines are commonly used to disinfect drinking water to protect public health from diseases such as cholera and typhoid. The work is published in ‘Science’.

Researchers have identified the chloronitramide anionchemically expressed as Cl-N-NO2-, as a final product of the decomposition of inorganic chloramine. Although its toxicity is not currently known, its prevalence and similarity to other toxic compounds is worrying. and warrants additional studies to evaluate its risk to public health. Simply identifying the compound has been a challenge and a breakthrough.

Julian Fairey, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Arkansas (United States), is the first co-author of the article published in Science. Fairey notes that researchers have known about the compound for decades, but have not been able to identify it. He himself began trying to unravel the mystery 10 years ago. “It is a very stable chemical substance with a low molecular weight,” says Fairey. in a statement.

“It is a very difficult chemical to find.. The most difficult part was identifying it and proving that it had the structure we said it had,” he adds.

This included the possibility of synthesizing the compound in his laboratory, something that had never been done before. Samples were then sent for analysis to their colleague and co-lead author of the paper, Juliana Laszakovits, a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Inevitably, questions will arise about the health risks posed by this new compound, which could not be previously evaluated in any toxicity studies. Fairey, who studies the chemistry of drinking water disinfectants, explained in a previous interview: “It is well known that When we disinfect drinking water, certain toxicity is created. A chronic toxicity, actually. A certain number of people can develop cancer from drinking water over several decades. But we have not identified which chemicals cause this toxicity. A main objective of our work is identify these chemicals and the reaction pathways through which they are formed.”

The identification of this compound is an important step in that process. In future work, academics and regulatory agencies, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, will evaluate whether the chloronitramide anion is related to any type of cancer or presents other health risks. At the very least, toxicity studies on this compound can now be completed thanks to this discovery. “Even if it is not toxic,” Fairey argues, “finding it can help us understand the pathways by which other compounds, including toxins, are formed. “If we know how something forms, we can potentially control it.”