Identification and environmental fate of novel halogenated polycyclic aromatic compounds in Canada's Oil Sands Region

阿尔伯塔油砂（AOS）是世界第三大原油储量，以目前的技术估计可开采石油1650亿桶。该地区含有天然形成的原油沥青、沙子、粘土、超细矿物固体和水的混合物，这些混合物富含有机化合物，其中最著名的是多环芳香族化合物（PACs）。由于其历史遗产，加拿大的联邦监测活动主要集中在多环芳烃（PAHs）及其烷基化类似物上。然而，众所周知，数百万年前，AOS地区曾经被海水覆盖，海水中可能含有高浓度的氯离子和溴离子。在油砂形成过程中，成岩作用和变质作用的压力和温度升高，加上丰富的Al和Fe元素形成的卤化物的催化活化，形成了有利于有机卤素形成的环境。我们假设在AOS地区的生物样品中可以检测到卤化PACs。这里描述的研究计划的总体目标是开发新的分析技术，使用最先进的仪器，从AOS地区的环境样品中挖掘新的卤化PAC （hpac）。这一点很重要，因为这些化合物之前在AOS地区还没有被发现，而且这些化合物可能比不含卤素原子的化合物对野生动物的危害更大。含氯和溴的pac及其烷基化衍生物将是这个学生主导的研究项目的重点。在生物样品中发现的新化合物将推动该研究计划的第二个主要组成部分。具体来说，我们将使用鱼肝微粒体生物测定法检查这些化合物对代谢的易感性。市售标准物将用作底物，以了解这些化合物向更极性代谢物的代谢转化。除了了解它们代谢的速度外，我的HQP团队还将识别在孵育生物测定过程中形成的代谢物。在AOS地区野生动物中鉴定HPACs以及在鱼类中形成的代谢物将为我们团队（以及其他人）将探索的这些化合物的持久性、生物积累和毒性的未来研究活动提供指导。

The Alberta Oil Sands (AOS) is the world's third largest reserve of crude oil with an estimated 165 billion barrels of oil recoverable given current technologies. The region contains naturally occurring mixtures of crude bitumen, sand, clay, ultrafine mineral solids and water that are rich in a soup of organic compounds the most notable of which are the polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). Because of their historical legacy, federal monitoring activities in Canada have focused on the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their alkylated analogs. However, it is known that the AOS region was once covered by sea water millions of years ago, which would have contained high concentrations of chloride and bromide ions. During the oil sand formation, the elevated pressures and temperatures of diagenesis and catagenesis combined with the catalytic activation of halides formed with abundant crustal elements Al and Fe created an environment conducive to organohalogen formation. We hypothesize that halogenated PACs would be detectable in biological samples from the AOS region.  The overarching aim of the research program described here is to develop novel analytical techniques using state-of-the-art instrumentation to unearth new halogenated PAC (HPACs) in environmental samples from the AOS region.  This is important because these compounds have not been identified before in the AOS region and there is a potential that these compounds could be more harmful to wildlife than ones not containing halogen atoms.  Chlorine and bromine containing PACs and their alkylated derivatives will be the focus of this student-led research program. The new compounds identify in biological samples will drive the second major component of this research program. Specifically, we will examine how susceptible these compounds are to metabolism using a fish liver microsomal bioassay. Commercially available standards will be used as substrate to understand the metabolic conversion of these compounds to more polar metabolites. In addition to understanding how quickly they metabolize, my HQP team will identify the metabolites formed during the incubation bioassay. The identification of HPACs in wildlife from the AOS region and the metabolites formed in fish will lead to future research activities on the persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicities of these compounds that our group (and others) will explore.