Assessment of phthalate esters (PAEs) contamination in Urtica dioica L.

Abstract

Phthalate esters are a group of chemical compounds of ubiquitous nature which nowadays have become a colossal threat to the environment, human-animal and plant health, because of its higher potential of accumulation in soil and aquatic habitat leading to environmental contamination due to its widespread industrial and agricultural usage. The present research aims to analyze the phthalate esters accumulation in Urtica dioica L. For this study, the Urtica dioica is tested for the presence of phthalates by using Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry. The Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry observations show the presence of 11 phthalate esters, among which diethyl phthalate (DEP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (BEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) were found to be in significantly higher amount. The sum concentrations of the phthalate ester in different extracts of plant range from 16.25% to 84.07%. The % composition of diethyl phthalate is found to be comparatively higher than other phthalate esters in methanolic extract of Urtica dioica while diisobutyl phthalate and bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate accumulation is found relatively higher in the ethyl acetate and diethyl ether fractions. The observations show the contamination of the Urtica dioica plant with phthalate esters and also indicate the phthalate accumulating potential of the plant.