セミナー・講演


過去のセミナー・講演


第29回現代化学ゼミナール Frontier Chemistry Seminar 29(プロジェクト・ゼミナール)
[日時]  11月6日(水)15時00分より16時30分まで
[場所]  未定
[講師]  Professor Kurunthachalam KANNAN (Dept of Health, Wadsworth Center, State University of New York, USA)
[演題]  Global distribution, behavior and fate of emerging organic pollutants:
[概要] Perfluorochemicals, perchlorate and brominated flame retardants Our current research interests are in the areas of identifying sources, pathways and distribution of emerging environmental contaminants in the environment. We current research has focused on perfluorinated compounds which are used in a wide variety of consumer products including non-stick cookware, microwave popcorn bags, carpets, textiles, and fire-fighting foams. Humans are exposed to perfluorochemicals from several sources, primarily from consumer products. Perfluorochemicals are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. Another class of contaminant that we are studying recently is perchlorate. Perchlorate is used primarily as a component of fuel used in missiles, rockets for military purposes, and also in fireworks and matches. Perchlorate use in several such applications has contaminated the groundwater extensively and our drinking water contains perchlorate. Similarly perchlorate is present in food, beverages and public water systems. This compound has a high potential to disrupt thyroid gland function. Our study has focused on developing HPLC-MS/MS method to analyze perchlorate in a wide range of environmental and biological matrixes. The method for the analysis and the distribution of perchlorate in the environment will be discussed. The third group of contaminant that will be covered in the lecture is brominated flame retardants. Brominated flame retardants including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used in a wide variety of consumer products including high impact polystyrene, polyurethane foams, to suppress the spread of fire. However, these contaminants are persistent, lipophilic and bioaccumulative. Our studies have focused on human exposure pathways and exposure assessment. We found out that infants are exposed to PBDEs at much higher levels than adults from the consumption of breast milk and ingestion of soil and dust. PBDEs also biomagnify in coastal food chain and higher trophic level organisms are exposed at much higher levels than the lower trophic ones. Current status of U.S. regulations on the production and use of several of these emerging organic pollutants will be discussed at the lecture.