Effect-directed identification and reduction of diffuse endocrine active substance inputs in surface waters

German streams are still polluted by various compounds. Apart from the direct discharge, the diffuse input of relevant substances from diverse sources (agriculture, rainwater discharge, combined sewer overflows, small wastewater treatment plants etc.) plays an important role. Discharged compounds such as drugs, pesticides, plasticizers and industrial chemicals have the potential to be endocrine effective and to harm aquatic organisms. The characterization of such pollutions is the aim of this project which is processed by Nicolai Bätz. Therefore, methods will be developed and applied to separate environmental samples via high performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and to identify estrogen, androgen and inhibiting endocrine effects within the samples by gene-modified yeast cells subsequently. The active parts of a sample will be tested by high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for single compounds responsible for the certain effect. The objective of the combination of effect-directed and instrumental analyses is to relate inputs to their sources and polluters. Moreover it will be used to evaluate the efficiency of measures which focus on the reduction of diffusive pollution.