Covalent Aggregation and Toxicity of Polystyrene Nanoparticles
(2018) KEMR37 20182Department of Chemistry
- Abstract
- Plastics play a central role in todays society and its use will only increase. When certain plastics are broken down to a nanometre size they become toxic to some aquatic life. Such plastic particles often undergo aggregation, especially in the aquatic environment. It is therefore of interest to study how different types of aggregation affects the physical characteristics as well as the toxicity of these particles.
In this report 53nm polystyrene spheres are linked together with covalent bonds using the linkers BS3 and DTSSP, which can be used effectively with a fairly simple protocol and few reagents. Both BS3 and DTSSP are effective linkers and their concentration can effectively control the size of the aggregates. These aggregates... (More) - Plastics play a central role in todays society and its use will only increase. When certain plastics are broken down to a nanometre size they become toxic to some aquatic life. Such plastic particles often undergo aggregation, especially in the aquatic environment. It is therefore of interest to study how different types of aggregation affects the physical characteristics as well as the toxicity of these particles.
In this report 53nm polystyrene spheres are linked together with covalent bonds using the linkers BS3 and DTSSP, which can be used effectively with a fairly simple protocol and few reagents. Both BS3 and DTSSP are effective linkers and their concentration can effectively control the size of the aggregates. These aggregates have a fractal shape and have a tendency to entangle. Additionally coating of particles/aggregates with albumin was a very effective way to protect them from further aggregation, both spontaneously and when introduced into tap water, this is promising since it allows to study of relatively monodisperse particles in the aquatic environment. This study also shows that these albumin treated particles are significantly more toxic to D. magna than the equivalent non-treated particles.
The toxicity of the aggregates decreases when the size is increased, which could be an effect of the lowered surface area of the aggregates. Importantly the aggregates were toxic at sizes were large single particles showed practically no toxicity, as demonstrated by previous studies. This supports the idea that the size of the particles are not as important as the shape and curvature of the particle, and that aggregation perhaps only lowers the exposure of this toxic surface. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- Plast är en central del av det moderna samhället och har otaliga användningsområden. En av konsekvenserna av detta är att det nu finns 4900 miljoner ton plast i naturen. Denna plast bryts långsamt ner tills partiklarna är på nanometer-nivån, dvs. en miljondel av en millimeter. Vissa plaster i denna storlek är giftiga för akvatiskt djurliv och transporteras upp i näringskedjan. I denna rapport undersöks hur dessa partiklars egenskaper förändras när man binder ihop dem. Vidare undersöks även hur partikelstorleken påverkar toxiciteten på djurplanktonet D. magna. Det visar sig att toxiciteten bibehålls, men sänks när storleken ökas. Om man istället stabiliserar partiklarna med proteinet albumin så blir de betydligt giftigare. Detta är ett... (More)
- Plast är en central del av det moderna samhället och har otaliga användningsområden. En av konsekvenserna av detta är att det nu finns 4900 miljoner ton plast i naturen. Denna plast bryts långsamt ner tills partiklarna är på nanometer-nivån, dvs. en miljondel av en millimeter. Vissa plaster i denna storlek är giftiga för akvatiskt djurliv och transporteras upp i näringskedjan. I denna rapport undersöks hur dessa partiklars egenskaper förändras när man binder ihop dem. Vidare undersöks även hur partikelstorleken påverkar toxiciteten på djurplanktonet D. magna. Det visar sig att toxiciteten bibehålls, men sänks när storleken ökas. Om man istället stabiliserar partiklarna med proteinet albumin så blir de betydligt giftigare. Detta är ett allvarligt problem och något som borde uppmärksammas mer i vetenskapen och även i vardagen. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8962860
- author
- Öhrneman, Hugo LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- KEMR37 20182
- year
- 2018
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Nanoparticles, Polystyrene, Toxicity, Daphnia magna, Covalent bond, Aggregation, physical chemistry, fysikalisk kemi
- language
- English
- id
- 8962860
- date added to LUP
- 2018-11-26 14:52:29
- date last changed
- 2018-11-26 14:52:29
@misc{8962860,
abstract = {{Plastics play a central role in todays society and its use will only increase. When certain plastics are broken down to a nanometre size they become toxic to some aquatic life. Such plastic particles often undergo aggregation, especially in the aquatic environment. It is therefore of interest to study how different types of aggregation affects the physical characteristics as well as the toxicity of these particles.
In this report 53nm polystyrene spheres are linked together with covalent bonds using the linkers BS3 and DTSSP, which can be used effectively with a fairly simple protocol and few reagents. Both BS3 and DTSSP are effective linkers and their concentration can effectively control the size of the aggregates. These aggregates have a fractal shape and have a tendency to entangle. Additionally coating of particles/aggregates with albumin was a very effective way to protect them from further aggregation, both spontaneously and when introduced into tap water, this is promising since it allows to study of relatively monodisperse particles in the aquatic environment. This study also shows that these albumin treated particles are significantly more toxic to D. magna than the equivalent non-treated particles.
The toxicity of the aggregates decreases when the size is increased, which could be an effect of the lowered surface area of the aggregates. Importantly the aggregates were toxic at sizes were large single particles showed practically no toxicity, as demonstrated by previous studies. This supports the idea that the size of the particles are not as important as the shape and curvature of the particle, and that aggregation perhaps only lowers the exposure of this toxic surface.}},
author = {{Öhrneman, Hugo}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Covalent Aggregation and Toxicity of Polystyrene Nanoparticles}},
year = {{2018}},
}